


Expanding Horizons

by HawkTooth



Series: Two Worlds Collide [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Humor, Self-Insert, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 13:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 55,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19465216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkTooth/pseuds/HawkTooth
Summary: Hawken, Hiccup, Toothless and the gang are back in Book 2 of the Two Worlds Collide series. Not everyone has been made aware of the truth about the dragons, and when a powerful tribe from the south makes a sudden visit with a dangerous intent, tension will rise and lines will be crossed. Add in a danger from a distant land, and the future will be far from certain.





	1. Visitors From Afar

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read (or, my own recommendation, skimmed) the first book, do so. It is necessary in order to make sense of what occurs here.

“Hiccup, back up!” “What, it can’t be anything that bad, can-“ BANG! “WHOA!!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, Hiccup had seen fireworks before, but he’d never seen mortar shells, and apparently, experience is his best teacher too. The shell exploded out of the tube with an explosion loud enough to make the Viking fall back on his rear end, but he kept watching as it streaked up into the sky, where it exploded into a huge violet and crimson willow. It was the Fourth of July, and Astrid, Hiccup, and the rest of the gang had joined me and my family at our house for the festivities. Surprisingly, Snotlout and the Twins had recognized the danger of the mortar long before Hiccup had, for once, and were on their sides laughing. My dad walked up to the tube and picked it up, readying the next shell. “I’m surprised,” he remarked. “I was told you were as insightful as my son. What happened?” Hiccup shook his head as he stood up. “Everyone has their moments, Sam,” he said as he walked back to join the rest of the group. I patted him on the back. “I see that destructive streak you’re famous for hasn’t gone away completely yet,” I teased. His response was to punch me in the shoulder. I’ll admit, though, it wasn’t exactly a powerful blow.

The rest of the night followed a bit more smoothly, fireworks going off up and down the street, and around the city. At 10:00, we all filed into the back yard, this time with the dragons included since it was dark and everyone’s attention was elsewhere, as the fireworks from the Greeley Stampede went off in the distance, holding everyone in a trance. As willows, Saturn Rings, Dragon’s Eyes, and other patterns went off, I felt like I needed to sit back and smile for a moment at the peace we were all feeling.

It had been nearly two weeks since my triumphant return from Alaska, and things finally seemed to have quieted down for me and the gang. Life was good: I finally had scored a part-time job at a nearby nursery, thus helping to make much-needed money for college and my personal life. Thank goodness I no longer needed to pay for a car, as flying was much more efficient. My visits to Berk stayed regular, nearly every day, and were quiet, but entertaining. There had been a couple of major pranks pulled by the twins which had the village in an uproar (I won’t go into details, but I’ll tell you one involved the excessive use of soured eggs and milk), but other than that, nothing. Early July was always a good time for me: warm weather, even in Berk where temperatures never exceeded 90°F, regular rains, plants doing well, and the Hairy Hooligans in their best moods, save for Mildew, but he’s never in a good mood.

After the fireworks were over, we went our separate ways for the night, and the next day found a strange calm over both my world and Hiccup’s. No one seemed to want to do anything in particular, everyone kind of lazing about. I went off to work, getting back around mid-day, and went about my usual business of dealing with the many, many plants in the house. At this point, I also had baby snakes to deal with, and spent most of the day making sure they were all fine.

At about 6 in the evening, I got a knock on the back door of the house, causing the two dogs to go off barking. Once they saw who it was, though, they went about their business. Hiccup and company had been over enough times so that Panda and Barney thought nothing of the people always in the back yard, something I was thankful about. I went to the door and opened it.

“Hey Hiccup. “Hey. I was wondering if you wanted to take a flight around the village with me. It’s been a real slow day, even at Gobber’s.” I caught an underlying tone to his words. Something else was going on, but he didn’t want to talk where anyone could find us. I nodded, calling into the house to let my mom and dad know where I was going, and we stepped out of the house.

We flew over to the maze of sea stacks along the western side of the island, gliding in silence for a while around the rocks. Eventually Hiccup turned to me. “I got a letter from Heather today. Do you remember anything about her?” I nodded. “Yeah, the whole deal with her and Alvin, so on, so forth.” Hiccup nodded. “Yeah, well, she lives a ways south of here, and her village doesn’t have a lot of dragons living with them, but they have a good populations of Terrors, so she managed to get one of them to bring a letter up here. Anyways, she told me they had an attack recently.”

That got my attention pretty quickly. “An attack? What kind?” “They don’t know. But whatever it was managed to take down a couple of larger dragons and a few people. There’s not many creatures I can think of that could do that and evade detection that well, but that’s not what I’m worried about.” I raised an eyebrow. “And what else could possibly be more worrying?” “Heather said she had heard reports from even further south of them, and they’ve been moving north. Nothing else has been heard since, but it seems something’s coming this way.” I shrugged. “Well, when it gets here, we’ll take care of it. We’ve dealt with worse. Was Heather asking for help?” “No, just a warning.”

I looked down at Toothless, who hadn’t said a word the whole time. “You have and opinion?” I asked. He shook his head and resumed flying forward. I raised an eyebrow at this too. “Since when is he so quiet?” I asked Hiccup. He shrugged. “Like I said, everyone’s been kind of slow today.” I nodded, and we kept going in silence for a while.

Hiccup eventually turned to me again as we started heading back. “I also wanted to give you a heads-up, because I’ve heard rumors something else may be happening soon. I don’t know the details, people seem to forget to tell me,” he said. “Must be force of habit,” I said, smirking. “Ha ha,” he replied. “But back to what I was saying, there may be another tribe coming to visit sometime soon. I don’t know who, but I know it’s supposed to be someone important.” I nodded. “Well, when you get the details, come find me.” Hiccup nodded, and we turned course to head back to the portal.

* * *

About a week went by, and no one stopped by, and I found myself caught up in a number of personal projects and so didn’t remember to stop by Berk either. Finally I had a day open again, at the beginning of the week on Monday, and decided to make a visit. As I lifted out away from the cove, I noticed the first few dragons taking off from the village, and heading for the mountain range to the north. It only got weirder when I actually reached the village itself. Vikings were hustling and bustling all over the place, fixing little messes and holes that no one normally bothered with, setting up decorations, and putting away excess supplies and items. Most odd, however, was that fact that everyone was working very hard at removing all evidence of dragon habitation. Fish baskets, toys, accidental scorch and scratch marks……they were all disappearing, being cleaned up and hidden away. The big bowls that held fish around the village were being cleaned out and fashioned to look like the braziers they used to be, as well.

A man by the name of Hoark went rushing by, holding a bucket of tar. I grabbed his shoulder. “What in the world is going on?” I queried. Hoark looked around. “Chief’s orders. We’re goin’ tae be havin’ visitors, and nae too friendly with dragons,” he explained. “Where is Stoick?” I asked. “Up by his house overseeing the brazier in the village square.” I nodded and began heading in that direction. The hustle and bustle, though, made it a bit difficult to walk, so I unfurled a pair of wings and lifted myself up over the houses.

Not long after I reached the square, gliding over the clearing toward Stoick’s house, I heard a shout down below from Gobber. “Hiccup! Git yer rear end over here an’ give me a hand! I’ve only got one left ya know!” I spotted him quickly enough, and looked around for Hiccup. Below, of course, and behind me came the Viking likeness of a twig, with Toothless gliding right above him. Ever since I had reversed the loss of limbs and fins on those two, they had stayed as inseparable as paper and glue, with Toothless nearly always right behind the boy or gliding not two feet above him, which often led to Hiccup getting smacked in the head by a stray claw or tailfin. I closed my wings and dropped to the ground right next to Hiccup.

“AAAAHHH!!! Geez, don’t do that, please!” Hiccup yelled, stumbling to the side as I habitually appeared out of the blue. Up above I heard Toothless give a snort of laughter, and dropped down next to me. <Good to see you here,> he said. <I really don’t like the direction this is all going.> I nodded mostly out of habit instead of understanding, and looked ahead to Gobber. The one-armed blacksmith was busy trying to round up a group of Gronckles and herd them up the hill, toward where I spotted a huge gathering of dragons.

“Ah, Hawken, good te see ye!” Gobber piped up, noticing me finally. “We’ll be needin’ yer assistance soon.” He turned from me back to the rocklike dragons laying on the ground in front of him. “Gronckles. Always the laziest of the dragons, it seems.” Hiccup sighed and walked over to the other side of the group, and Toothless followed, giving a sharp bark to the couch potatoes. <Come on, get up already! I don’t like this any more than you do, but I understand it has to be done,> he snapped. Grumbling, the heavyset dragons finally got up and started following Gobber up the hill.

I was starting to tire of being left out of the loop, and turned to the group. “Will someone _please_ explain to me what is going on here??!!” I snapped. Hiccup turned, looking a bit sheepish, and scratched the back of his head. “Uh, sorry, I forgot I was supposed to let you know. Got busy, and, stuff,” he excused. “But, uh, we’re having some ‘guests’ coming up to the village in a few days, and they don’t exactly, uh, play well with dragons.” I nodded. “These the people you mentioned a week ago?” Hiccup nodded in reply. “Yeah. We don’t want to get off on the wrong hand, especially since the chief of the visiting tribe holds more power than my dad, so we’re moving all the dragons to the meadows on the other side of the mountains for safety reasons until Ingavar and his crew take their leave.” Hiccup gestured toward the strangely massive ridge of mountains that crossed the island. I nodded in agreement, and turned to start helping out when a memory managed to crawl to the front of my mind. A chill immediately swept through me.

Hiccup had been around me long enough to know when something was wrong, so he immediately noticed my halted movement. “You okay?” he asked. I slowly nodded. “Yeah, uh, sorry. Just a memory of a story I read at home popping up. It began with a rather coincidentally similar set of events as this.” I turned to Hiccup again. “Where, exactly, is this tribe from?” Hiccup scratched his head again. “Uh, not really any particular place, though they set up camps here and there. My dad said they’re a bit of a nomadic group, from further south.” “Oh, god.”

“What?” Hiccup started to look concerned again. I shook my head again. “Look, it has to be a coincidence, because this is way too close to the story I read,” I explained. “What’s Ingavar’s ‘title’? Fearsome, by any chance?” Hiccup raised an eyebrow, and then nodded. I sat down for a moment, putting my hand to my head. “Oh, I hope this isn’t…” I muttered. “Ingavar…. Ivar….. takeover… oh, man.” I looked slowly back up to Hiccup. “I really hope this doesn’t develop the same way that story does,” I said. “We’ve had too many close calls with the events that have happened already.”

<What happens in this story of yours?> Toothless asked, appearing nearby and sidling up next to Hiccup and I. I waved the question off. “I fear telling anything might just jinx the whole situation,” I said. “More likely than not, I’m just being paranoid. That happens a lot too.” I looked up at the gathering of the village’s dragons nearby. “But, just in case, I’ll help to move the dragons. Better safe than sorry, I’ve been told.”

We walked up to the gathered reptiles, and I stood at the top of the hill in front of them. <Alright, everyone listen up!> I roared, getting their attention. <Look, I know this isn’t exactly anyone’s cup of tea today, but in order to make sure all of you stay safe, you will need to follow our directions exactly for the time being, alright?> There was a pause, then a slow rumble of reluctant compliance. <Good. Now, you will nearly all be taken to the large meadow on the other side of the mountains, and you must stay there. If you hear anyone, hid in the forests, unless you see one of us only. We will be visiting occasionally in my company. If you do not see the humans in the company of me or another dragon, stay hidden, got it?> Another reluctant agreement. <Okay, now everyone, follow Toothless and I.>

I turned and nodded to Toothless and Hiccup, then went Nightmare and spread my own wings. We launched into the air, followed by the massive flock behind us, and turned toward the massive chain of mountains that cut straight across the island. It’s interesting that, while Berk was founded along the southern edge of the island, where there are large patches of meadow and forest, roughly ¾ of the inhabitable land was on the other side of the island, past the mountains. Unlike what the movies show, the island is rather large. When I asked Stoick why the village was constructed where it was, he explained it was for defense. It’s hard to invade a village built on the sides of cliffs. Also, for an island, the mountains are truly gargantuan, and I know I’m not exaggerating when I say the tallest of the peaks reaches probably over 8,000 feet in elevation. Up there, due to how northerly the land is, the snow never melts from the sheer sides, and very little green is to be had, let alone any animals. The only time I ever saw any of the Vikings on the high slopes was when the teens went dragon bobsledding the winter before.

To crest the lowest valley in the range, the dragons still had to gain a good 2,000 feet of altitude. Not a problem for Night Furies and Nightmares, with our large wingspans, but we had to slow down in order to let the Gronckles catch up. But, eventually we managed to crest the edges of the valley, and made our way across the range. The mountain may have been tall, but they weren’t very wide, and within the hour we had crossed them, reaching the wide meadow expanse at the base of the spires. We glided down and the dragons landed around us. Most of the gang had to stay behind, stuck doing other menial chores, but naturally Hiccup felt compelled to come along. After all, he thought his best friend was going to have to stay here.

“Did you tell them that they should only go hunting at night?” Hiccup asked. I nodded. “On the way here. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. I mean, they lasted plenty of years without us directing them,” I replied, then looked at Toothless. Hiccup followed my gaze, and an expression of pain crossed his face. Those two were never separated more than a couple of hours. “Well, I guess it’s time for… for me to go,” he said, giving Toothless a rub on the head. “Keep the dragons in-“ he wasn’t able to finish before I started giggling. The two both turned to face me, looks of confusion and irritation on their faces. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?” Hiccup groused. “What is so funny?” Toothless mirrored his attitude. <Yeah, getting separated for a week or two isn’t exactly a walk in the park for us,> he hissed. I nodded. “I know, I know, but that’s why it’s all the better that you won’t be staying here, Toothless.”

Both of them quieted up very quickly, confusion growing. “But…of course he has to stay here,” Hiccup said. “No matter how close we are, I am not going to risk him getting killed by a bunch of Vikings who haven’t wizened up yet!” “I’m still going to be around,” I reminded him. “Besides, if someone even manages to get a glimpse of a Night Fury, they won’t be able to do much about it.” I gestured to Toothless. “You guys never even managed to see him when the raids were going on, you think that he, under his own mind and power, is going to let himself be spotted by a bunch of people who likely never have even dealt with a Night Fury?” I waved my hands at the other dragons around the meadow. “Dragons like them are noticeable. But Night furies are famous for stealth, yes?” Hiccup nodded reluctantly, and I continued. “For as much as possible, he can stay in the cove, or if need be in my yard, since there may be a chance we’ll need him.” Toothless gave me a questioning stare, but I ignored it and he didn’t push the subject. Hiccup was more reserved.

“If anything, and I mean anything, happens to him, Hawken, I will hold you personally responsible,” he said dangerously. I nodded. “Wouldn’t really have expected anything else. I’ll make sure nothing happens to him, alright?” With that, the case was closed for the moment, and after we bade farewell for the moment to the village dragons, we headed back across the mountains and to the cove.

* * *

“WHAT??!!!”

Stoick was not thrilled about my idea. I sighed. “Yes, I know, against your orders for the village, compromising safety in some ways, and possibly giving the other teens ideas,” I summed up, watching as he paced the living room of his house, “but you have to remember, I have proven I know things about your world some of you could only guess at. Plus, it would seem that a number of the stories I read at home that people have made up have this nasty tendency of flying into our faces as real situations when I’m here. If this one I’m worried about goes down the same path, we are going to need the Night Fury near the village.”

Stoick stopped pacing for a moment and glared at me. “Ye had better know whit yer doin’, Hawken. Yer not technically part of the village, so I can’t punish ye, per se, and I trust ye, but I can only let things go so far.” I nodded, and after he dismissed me, I stepped outside.

Hiccup was waiting, arms crossed. ”Well, what happened?” he asked. I laughed quietly. “Well, remember that I’ve become one of the biggest influences in the village now,” I said. “Everything I alright for now, as long as I know what’s going on.” Hiccup rolled his eyes. “At this point, it seems like you’re the only one that knows. And I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

* * *

The rest of the day, and the next, were spent in busy preparation. I couldn’t really help much, since I didn’t know the details of what was going on here, but I could watch. Everyone except Hiccup and Stoick had spare rooms that they had to prepare, and extra food was caught and stored. At the end of the second day, the village looked better than I ever recalled seeing it, except maybe right before the festival the year before. Come early evening, I happened to find myself with Hiccup and Astrid near the forge.

“So, exactly how well known is this Ingavar guy?” I asked. Astrid examined her nails for a second before replying. “Every Viking in the archipelago knows about him,” she said, “but unfortunately, he became most famous for the number of different dragons he’s managed to kill.” I made a face, but then so did Hiccup and Astrid. Hiccup spoke up. “But he’s also famous for being one of the most successful seafaring Viking chiefs there is. But as we’ve already said, he hasn’t yet been up here to find out the truth about the-“

Hiccup was cut off as a horn sounded from one of the watchtowers, followed by the lookout yelling out, “Ships on the horizon!”

Ingavar would arrive in the morning, and there was no telling how the first meeting would go.


	2. Arrival

The next morning, we found a huge crowd of villagers surrounding the docks as the ships pulled in. Massive vessels they were too, most quite a bit larger than the boats of the Hooligans. Though, makes sense considering they were built to last years out on the open seas. At the front of the crowd on the docks were Stoick, Gobber, Hiccup, and Astrid. They were to greet Ingavar when he stepped off, make him welcome, what with Stoick and Hiccup being the “royal” family, Gobber the right hand man, and Astrid, well, Astrid. I was there too, for both obvious and personal reasons. Behind us, the rest of the gang stood, along with the village council: Fishlegs, Snotlout, the Twins, and Spitelout, Hoark, Phlegma, and so on. As the ships docked and the ropes cast down to tie off, tension mounted in suspense.

The largest ship came in first, and as the ramp lowered to the dock, a massive man came strolling down the planks. He was at least a match in size for Stoick, and that’s saying something, but with straight, blonde hair just starting to gray, and an air of authority that radiated from him. As he walked up toward our group, he gave Gobber and Astrid only a passing glance, while Hiccup and I received curious stares. Then, his eyes locked firmly on Stoick.

“Aha! Good te see you again, Stoick the Vast!” he bellowed, extending his hand toward the chief. Stoick took it and they gave a firm handshake. Then Ingavar backed off a little ways. “I see you haven’t changed at all since I saw ye last! Still as strong as ever!” He looked back toward Gobber again, and this time, recognition lit in his eyes. “And I see neither have you, Gobber! Still have two good limbs to work with!” Gobber nodded. “And I’ll nae be planning on losing any more,” he returned. Ingavar nodded. “Now, Stoick, where is yer boy?” he asked. “I’ve heard much about him recently, how he took on the red Death! He must be quit the Viking to have done such a thing!”

One by one, we all turned toward Hiccup, who winced a bit, then slowly stepped forward. “Ingavar, this is my son,” Stoick said, standing next to Hiccup, “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, heir to my throne.” Ingavar looked at him, and for a moment there was silence. Then he burst out laughing. “Oh, come on Stoick, I know you! Yer nae playing a joke on me, are ye? Certainly this boy can’t be yer only son!” I face-palmed as Hiccup immediately bristled at the comment. Stoick stepped forward. “I do beg your pardon, Ingavar, but you have just insulted my son. That is who this boy is! He did take down the red death, and nearly on his own as well!” Ingavar gave another belt of laughter and shook his head. “Well, then, it’s nice you hold your own boy in such high regard,” he remarked, “but ye do need to be able to let him earn his own accomplishments, earn his status on his own. If I had even half a mind I could tell you certainly did most of the work in that battle then.”

This was going south really fast. “Not to be disrespectful, Ingavar, but not everything is how it looks on the surface. Hiccup here has earned his status more than you can possibly know.” That voice of disagreement was my own, as I stepped forward next to Hiccup as well, facing Ingavar with a glare. He may have been a towering man, but he was in no way frightening to me, especially as long as I had my swords with me. “He did indeed take down that beast, without help from any of those you see here.” Ingavar turned his attention to me, and looked me up and down. “And who, may I ask, are you to speak up without being addressed?” he asked. “Ye don’t have the look of a Viking, and yer as skinny as Stoick’s boy here!” I bristled and the edges of my mouth curled slightly, though I didn’t get in a return comment before Stoick stepped in again.

“Uh, Hawken here is not to be taken lightly. He may not look like much, but he’s a friend of the village,” Stoick explained. “He’s managed to save the village on more than one occasion, and what he says is to be believed.” Ingavar raised an eyebrow, then smiled and nodded. “Very well then,” he said, extending a hand. “Let’s see how your handshake is. You can tell a lot about anyone by their grip.” I shrugged, and extended my own hand. My fingers were barely long enough to reach either side of his hand, but it didn’t really matter. I gripped hard and shook his hand, giving a bit of a squeeze at the same time.

You could hear Ingavar’s knuckles crack across the docks. His eyes widened in surprise, and he flexed his hand when I let go, trying to figure out how I’d done that. Behind me, the twins started snickering at the look on the foreign chief’s face. “How in the world…?” he questioned. I smirked. “Like I said, not everything is how it looks. And like Stoick said, I’m not to be taken lightly. It’s a gift, let’s just say.” Ingavar nodded, then shook his head and smiled. “Well, then, uh, Hawken, well met.” He turned to Stoick, who stepped forward and clasped his hands in expectation.

“Uh, well, back to business,” Stoick said. “I received your letter a couple weeks ago, but it did not have any details as to why you took this trip north to here. So, what does bring you to our little island?” Ingavar nodded and gestured to a man on board the ship behind him, who turned to grab something. A light flashed in his eyes, determination with what looked to be a touch of greed. “There have been rumors,” he began, “coming from villages further south, and they made their way up this direction. It seems a rather interesting dragon has made himself known and reportedly set a course in this direction.” Ingavar turned to the sea and gestured with a hand. “I don’t know if it will come this far, but I tried to get ahead of the reports to try and see if I could intercept it.”

My blood ran cold as the man on the ship handed Ingavar a cloth with something wrapped in it. “If I can find the dragon soon, I could be the first ever to kill one,” he said as he began to unwrap the cloth. Inside was a scale, a large one and, worst of all, nearly pitch black. Hiccup noticed my face and began to put the pieces together. “You’re not, by any chance, looking for Night Furies, are you?” he asked carefully. I shot him a warning glare, but it didn’t matter, as Ingavar shook his head at the question. “No, no. Much rarer in this part of the world, larger and meaner too. Are you okay, boy? Your eyes are changing colors.” He had noticed the look on my face as well, along with my odd eyes. “It’s natural for me, they do that with my mood,” I explained, then gestured with my hand toward the scale. “How hard is that?” I asked. “Nearly as hard as granite,” Ingavar replied, running his hand across the surface. “It was found at one of the villages the beast attacked.” “Is it a stealth-type dragon, mystery class?” I ventured again.

Now, Ingavar took on a look of surprise. “Do you know of this beast?” he asked. “Have ye seen it?” I shook my head. “No, no, never seen it, but I’ve heard stories….” I trailed off as the tale from my own world came back again, stronger. “Oh, this is not good,” I whispered.

Gobber shook his head and stepped in. “Alright, can either o’ you two tell us what yer babbling on about?” Ingavar spoke two words that turned my veins to ice. “Shadow Lord.” “Shadow Lord? What kind of a name is that for a dragon?” Hiccup asked. Ingavar smiled. “It was to describe the power of this animal. They’re big, mean, enemies to the famed Night Furies themselves,” Ingavar explained. Meanwhile, I sank back against a nearby post, trying to get my blood pressure back to normal. “They can breathe walls of fire, and disappear in an instant,” Ingavar continued on. “Their hard scales make it nearly impossible to penetrate with normal weapons. If the reports are correct, this one may show up here soon, giving me a chance to take it on.” He turned to look at the teens behind us, and then back at Hiccup and Astrid. “In the meantime, however, I think these kids here should take up a dragon training course, in case it shows up when I’m not around.”

“They’re already been through the course,” Gobber said. I caught Snotlout looking at his arm, at the scar he got when Horrorcow had hit him. Ingavar raised an eyebrow. “Really? Alright then. You,” he said, pointing at Snotlout, “How many dragons have you killed since then?” Snotlout started stuttering. “Uh, well, I uh, none, but I-“ He was cut off as Ingavar looked at Fishlegs. “I-I haven’t killed any either, sir, but-“ On to the twins: “None, but we really-“ Astrid: “I haven’t killed any.” Then Hiccup: “I killed the Red Death, if that counts.” Ingavar put on a skeptical look at that, then turned to Gobber. “They’ve taken training, have they? It would appear they need a better teacher then.” I put my hand to my forehead, knowing exactly how this would play out.

“Now wait just a minute!” Gobber snapped back. “We haven’t had any dragon raids since Hiccup killed the Red Death, there haven’t been any chances to kill dragons!” Ingavar waved Gobber off, and then turned toward the ship. “You could always go hunting for dragons then, like we do!” He said. “Wolfblood! Come out here!” he yelled toward the ship. Another large man appeared shortly thereafter, waltzing down the ramp, trailed by another brawny teenager, about the same age as the rest of us. I stood up, trying to look better than I felt, and smiled shakily. “Can I guess Wolfblood and Bitwolf?” I asked. The three new Vikings gave me incredulous looks. “You’ve heard of us?” the man named Wolfblood asked. I shrugged. “I know more than I let on to most,” was all I replied with. Ingavar shook his head and turned to Wolfblood. “Wolfblood, you and your son are to re-teach these teens here, and,” he gestured at me, “that one, how to fight and kill dragons.”

“Now hold on just a minute,” Stoick growled. “This is still my village, and-“ “Stoick!” I yelled. He looked at me confusedly. “Just let it happen,” I warned, giving him a slight nod. He swallowed angrily, but nodded and backed off. I turned to Ingavar, but before I said anything, Astrid spoke up. “There are no dragons in the village, or in the Training Arena, sir,” she said. “They were removed a long while ago.” The foreign chief raised an eyebrow again. “None? What happened to them?” “Gone. They haven’t been around since Hiccup killed the Red Death. It was like a queen bee, they followed it.” Ingavar shrugged, “Well, then, Wolfblood will instruct you on weapons training for preparation. Tomorrow, we’ll go on a hunt to search for some dragons. There are sure to be some on this island somewhere.”

* * *

The meet-and-greet ended there. The Vikings under Ingavar’s command began unloading the ships and inquiring about spare rooms, and I pulled Hiccup and Astrid to the side. “We need to make sure they don’t head for the cove,” I whispered. “Not only can Toothless’ hiding spot not be found (I caught Hiccup’s I-told-you-so look at this point), but the portal to my world can’t be found by them, certainly not yet at least.” I looked at Hiccup. “Next chance you get after we’re done here, find me. We need to go talk to Toothless and the Terrors. They need to heighten their alert.” I looked at Astrid. “When you can, help Hiccup improve with the bigger weapons.” “Hey!” Hiccup protested. I ignored him. “He’s already proficient with knives and swords, but bigger things will impress these guys more, especially if they’re to believe an alternate Red Death story.” Astrid nodded.

“Is this why you wanted Toothless nearby?” Hiccup interrupted, “To help guard the portal?” I shook my head, and then looked around. We were behind a tool shed, so no one was looking at us, but I wasn’t going to let my own guard down. “That was one reason, yes, but considering what we just learned about why Ingavar is here, it would seem a chapter from my stories is coming to life again. He’s going to need to be close when we go into the woods with these visitors. Ingavar may think he can take down a Shadow Lord, but a dragon four times the size of Toothless that can’t be seen is way too dangerous for someone like him to tackle. I won’t even mention how smart it will be.” They nodded, knowing dragons in general were on par with most people.

Hiccup, of course, still had a thing for knowledge. “What does one look like, exactly?” he asked. I sighed and motioned for them to follow me. We came out from behind the shed, and Ingavar spotted us immediately. “You three!” he called. “Don’t go too far. I’m having Wolfblood conduct training in an hour.” I sighed and turned toward him. “Whether I participate or not in training, Ingvar, is up to me, and me only, not you.” I knew I was getting on his bad side with that line, but at the moment I really didn’t care.

The three of us went quickly up to Hiccup’s house, where I pulled out a large piece of paper, and a pen that I always had with me, and began sketching the image that I remembered. “Not everything in the stories I read and here are exactly the same,” I explained, “but if the dragon I remember is anything like what’s coming, this is what it may look like.”

When I finished, I held up the paper. On it was a rather frightening image indeed. Shadow Lords look somewhat like Night Furies, but with long horns between their ears, spikes down the back, scales like armor plating and rock hard. “Are you sure even Toothless could fight that?” Astrid asked nervously. I shook my head. “No, but he could help be an early warning, and he’s probably going to be more agile, since he’s smaller and lighter. A Night Fury would be the first thing to notice something as quiet as a Shadow Lord nearby, plus he would be a distraction to it, so that together we could have a chance at dealing with it.”

KNOCK!!! KNOCK!! KNOCK!!!

“Hide the paper!” Hiccup hissed. I rolled it up and ran upstairs to his room as he went to answer the door with Astrid. As I put the picture down underneath a stack of other papers on his desk, I heard Wolfblood’s voice downstairs. “Come on you two, it’s nearly time to start your training. Where’s that other weird one?” I growled as I came back down the stairs, feeling my eyes go red again, and spotted Wolfblood at the door.

“I’m right here,” I announced, giving him a glare that could wither trees. He gave an equally withering glare, which had no effect on me as I came to stand next to the other two teens. “It’s about time for the first session to begin, so if you will follow me-“ he was cut off as I brushed past him and stepped down the path, followed by Hiccup and Astrid. “Alright, fine, you lead the way,” he snapped, glaring at me again as I headed for the training arena. I had time today, so I decided to play along. Wolfblood walked up next to me, and said, “You’ll be the first one I work on then.”


	3. Training and Warning

“Alright, you with the sheep wool on his head, step forward!”

We were in the Training Arena, and had just set up the makeshift targets along one wall. On the wall nearest to us was the weapons rack, brimming with all sorts of different kinds of sharp and heavy objects. The object of the command above happened to be me, as our new “teacher,” Wolfblood, hadn’t yet learned I don’t take kindly to remarks about my hair.

“Uh, Wolfblood, sir, I would really suggest using his name,” Fishlegs nervously spoke up. “Yeah, he can be mean when you call him names and stuff,” Tuffnut sniggered, grinning in hopes of a reaction from my end. I ignored him and just leveled a brown-eyed glare at Wolfblood, who looked back at me with skepticism. He hadn’t been above deck when I gave Ingavar the knuckle-cracking handshake. “Alright, Hawken,” he toned, “prove them right, why don’t you? Show me what you can do.”

I sauntered up to the weapons rack, and looked it over. “Anything in particular you want me to use?” I queried, not sparing Wolfblood a glance. Behind me, he said, “Let’s see how you do with that axe above yer head.” I glanced up and saw what he was referring to: a double bladed axe with a head twice the size of my own. I shrugged and reached up, pulling it off the rack one-handed, then turned to face Wolfblood and his son, the latter of which showed an inkling of surprise on his face. “Which target?” I asked next. We had set up a series of 5 bulls-eye targets for the practice. Wolfblood pointed to one. “Second from the right,” he said. I nodded casually, and lined up in front of the selected target. I aimed the blade toward the circle of wood, then tossed it straight up in the air, to the shock of the two newcomers. It spun twice, then came down, and in one motion, I grabbed the handle, spun with the momentum, and threw it down the length of the arena toward the bulls-eye, the blade spinning as it went.

CRACCKKK!!!

The force of impact of metal on wood drove the axe deep into the foot-thick block, and a wide split ran up the target to the outer edge. The axe wasn’t perfectly centered, I’m not that good, but the lower edge ran through the center, the blade perfectly vertical. I turned to Wolfblood. “Now, what was that crack about my hair you made?” I drawled casually. He and Bitwolf were standing, mouth ajar. I walked down the range to the target, looked it over, an then “casually” ripped the axe out of the wood.

“How did you do that?” I turned to see Bitwolf finally mustering up the ability to speak again. “I-I mean I can’t even throw that hard!” I shrugged and smirked. “Can’t tell you.” That immediately earned a couple of suspicious glances from the two. “Why not?” Wolfblood griped. “Whatever it is you do to get that level of strength, or speed or whatever it is that does _that,_ would be incredibly useful against the more dangerous dragons!” I waved it off. “I have my reasons, that’s all you need to know at the moment. You wanted to know how well I work with an axe, there you go.” I could see Wolfblood was prepared to push the issue, but Astrid intervened before he could. “Please, sir, just drop the topic,” she insisted. “He’s not going to let out anything more. I’ll go next.”

Wolfblood didn’t object or say otherwise, so Astrid took the initiative. She grabbed up another axe on the rack, similar to her own prized weapon, lined up with a new target, and then performed her characteristic somersault, launching the axe down the range. It didn’t have quite the impact as mine, but was dead center with a vertical blade buried in the target. Wolfblood nodded. “Impressive as well, then, uh, Astrid. I take it you have had practice.” He then turned to Hiccup and smiled, as Hiccup winced. “How about the so-called slayer of the Red Death?” he asked. “What kinds of weapons are you practiced with?” Hiccup waved his hands a bit. “I don’t have to use an axe, do I?” he inquired. Wolfblood shook his head. “What can you use? If you try something out of your league, I won’t know what you actually need to work on or with.” I nodded. _Good advice, actually,_ I thought.

Hiccup shrugged in response and walked over to the weapons rack. There were only 3 weapon types I knew Hiccup had worked with before, and the bow and arrow and short sword/dagger weren’t in the available assortment at the moment. I needed to talk to Stoick about that. Luckily, he grabbed the set of throwing knives that were there, and stepped up in line with the center target. I heard a slight snicker come from Bitwolf, followed by a light smack from his father, but Hiccup didn’t react. He tossed the first knife in the air, testing the weight, then drew back, aimed, and threw it forward, followed by the other 3.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

Each one found the target at least. However, Hiccup’s aim was still a little off. Two of the knives barely caught the bottom of the block, and the other two were still low and off to the left. Bitwolf burst out laughing this time, and I could also see Wolfblood holding back the snickers.

Hiccup began turning red, and whirled toward Wolfblood. “What?!” he snapped. “I’ve only just begun working with these! I don’t have my usual bow or anything here!” Wolfblood shook his head, still smiling unapologetically. “Well, at least I know who needs the most work!” He looked at Astrid and I. “You two seem to be proficient enough at the moment, so I assign you two to help him outside of class. Anyway, moving on!”

* * *

The session went by quickly enough, considering there were only 4 other “students” to test. Fishlegs still needed some work on aim, though the strength of his arm wasn’t a problem (the dent in the cage door next to the targets could attest to that), Snotlout still had his tendency to show off (anyone who watched the Thawfest episode on the TV series, you know what I’m talking about), and the twins……well, what can you say about those two? Good aim with their chosen weapon, the spear, but when you have both of them together something always starts an argument. Wolfblood nearly had a new hairdo to show off.

The rest of the teens were soon dismissed (I left when I chose to), and it was nearly 4 in the afternoon, so I decided it was about time to go check on Toothless and company. Hiccup was going with, no question, and Astrid decided to tag along because “I don’t want to spend any more time than I have to near that blockhead Bitwolf. He reminds me too much of Snotlout.” I snickered at that, but was also relieved. Not everything I had read was playing out, so there was still hope. As we headed toward the forest path, though, we just “coincidentally” happened to run into none other than Wolfblood and Bitwolf themselves, of course.

“And just where are you three off to?” Wolfblood inquired. “Training out in the woods,” Astrid replied curtly. “As you said, Hiccup needs a little one-on-one to improve.” “Hey!” Hiccup protested. I shot him a look to ay quiet down. He shot me one of his own that said plenty as well, but didn’t make any other comments. Wolfblood ignored the protest, and nodded. “Ye should have an adult with ye, in case any dragons or other predators show up,” he warned. I waved the thought off with my hand. “We’re fine, really,” I countered. “My home off this direction too, so I come and go through-“ “Wait, you mean you don’t live in the village?” Bitwolf interrupted. I sighed and shook my head. “Then how come just about everyone here knows you?” He just wouldn’t quit, would he? “Well, if you had been there when we were explaining things to Ingavar, you would know that, now wouldn’t you?” I quipped. “I’ve helped save the village during a number of less-than-pleasant situations before, so I’m held in a bit of a high regard.” Bitwolf snorted in return. “You? Save a village? Yeah, right.”

I nodded and started to walk away again, taking Astrid and Hiccup with me. “Yes, right. Now, if you will excuse us, we’ll be taking our leave now, like we were before you interrupted us.” The other two went ahead of me and started down the forest path, and I glanced back and caught Bitwolf giving Astrid a look-over. I shot him a warning glance, and snapped, “Don’t even think about it. Astrid is with Hiccup, end of story.” I turned back around and disappeared into the woods myself, but kept an ear open. Wolfblood whispered to his son, “Follow them,” and then turned back into the village, while Bitwolf began down the path. _Of course,_ I thought, _just what we need._ I raced down the path and quickly caught up with the other two.

“Off the path. Now,” I ordered hurriedly, pushing them toward a thicket of bushes and ferns. They went without question, but Astrid gave me a warning look that promised pain if I didn’t know what I was doing. We dipped down the slope a little ways, and I turned and peered through the trees to spot the top of Bitwolf’s head making its way in our direction, turning to look all around. Astrid and Hiccup crouched down, and I flared a couple of wings, blending the colors in with the forest. Bitwolf reached the point here we left the path, and his eyes swept over us before he continued onward.

“Why are we doing this?” Astrid whispered as I folded my wings and turned to them. “Bitwolf was trying to follow us,” I explained quietly. “Luckily that trail won’t go much further than your training grounds, so we should be okay for the moment.” I turned and looked around, then morphed Night Fury and crouched down. “Get on.”

* * *

The flight was short an uneventful, and we soon landed in the cove, Astrid and Hiccup dismounting as I changed back. Looking around, Toothless was nowhere to be seen, though that was good and to be expected. <Toothless! Come out already, we need to talk!> I yelled.

CREEEEAAKKKK!! Snap!

I looked up and sighed. Naturally, he was in the one place I’d forgotten to look: up a tree. Toothless glided down from the branches and landed in front of us, rubbing up against Hiccup and giving him a friendly lick, and Hiccup gave him a scratch in return. Then, he looked at me. <Something wrong?> he asked. I nodded. “Possibly, so keep your guard up. That story I mentioned is becoming reality.” He cocked an eyebrow. <And by that, what do you mean?> “Long story short, there are suspicious Vikings trying to follow us and there may be a ‘Shadow Lord’ on the way.”

His reaction was instantaneous, eyes going wide, and then to slits, and he bared his teeth as he wrapped around Hiccup and Astrid, scanning the skies. <If it comes anywhere near here….> “Quit being overprotective, will you?” I interrupted, walking over and pushing him on the snout. “I’m here still, alright? And that’s not going to help anything anyway.” Toothless shot me an anxious glare. <Do you even know what a Shadow Lord can do?> he snapped. <Hiccup and I managed to take down the Red Death, and even together I doubt we could take one down if given twenty year’s practice!>

I gave him a deadpan stare and raised an eyebrow. “I can turn into a creature of living shadows. I’m sure that together we could manage something. It’s big, it has hard scales, yes, but it’s still your average stealth class dragon.” Toothless didn’t stop glancing upward, but he released the tension he was building up and his expression softened a little. <Well, maybe,> he muttered. I nodded. “Well, it’s an improvement. Are the Terrors still up at the portal?” <Last time I checked.> “Good.”

I turned and left the three Berkians to themselves and flew up to the clearing around the portal, whistling a high note as I landed. As expected, the half dozen or so Terrors appeared in the trees. The self-appointed “head” of the group, Phil (named after Gobber’s favorite sheep for reasons unknown, though the fact that they were both nearly white might have played a part), came and landed on my shoulder, looking up at me. <What’s up?> he chirped. I glanced up at the clouds building. <Keep a very close eye out and stay hidden. There’s untrustworthy Vikings following us, and a good chance we may have a Shadow Lord show up on the island.>

Like Toothless, they all reacted immediately to the name, screeching and disappearing into the trees, and Phil crawled behind my neck and under my hair. <You’re kidding, right?> he twittered again. I shook my head and pulled him out so I could actually see him. <Afraid not. In the unlikely event it happens to find the portal, you will need to distract it somehow and draw it away. I know that’s a scary idea but if that creature gets to the other side there’s no telling what it would do in my world. Besides,> I gestured to the trees, where the rest of the group had vanished, <You all seem to be good at hiding, right?> Phil nodded carefully. <Good. Also, I doubt I have to tell you, but if that happens, send someone for me immediately, no matter where I am.> I let Phil go, and he flew back up to his perch in the pine tree nearby, still trembling a bit.

At this point I was starting to become very concerned. I knew the Shadow Lord, if it did show up, would be a hard thing to beat, but how bad did it have to be if just the mention of it sent the rest of the dragons running? There was something else going on here, I surmised, some secret I had missed.

It wasn’t quite time for me to head back home just yet, so I tagged along with Astrid and Hiccup as they went to Astrid’s training area. It took a bit of coaxing to get Toothless to let them leave the cove without him, but he knew what happened if someone from the other tribe found him, or us with him, so he reluctantly stayed put for the moment. As we flew to the clearing, I morphed a different kind of stealth dragon, one that could blend with the skies, so that if Bitwolf was still looking for us he wouldn’t see us coming in to land.

Turns out, it was a smart idea, as Bitwolf was still around. Not five minutes after we had landed and started drilling Hiccup on fighting stance and such, he came puffing down the trail leading from the deeper parts of the forest. When he saw us, he stopped and stared, open-mouthed, at us for a minute.

“When did you show up?” he asked. After suppressing a few giggles, Astrid answered. “Wow, you must be blind. We’ve been here for like half an hour already. What are you doing out here? We didn’t see you walk by either.” Leave it to Astrid to sound perfectly nonchalant in her storytelling. “I, uh, I was-I was looking for you guys. My dad thought you still might need some advice from someone who’s really experienced.”

That was a bad choice of words coming from Bitwolf. Astrid glared at him for a second, then back-flipped toward the nearest tree, driving her axe into it as she landed. “Does it _look_ like we need more advice?” she asked calmly, with a venomous undertone riding her voice. Bitwolf stuttered for a minute. “Well, I ….I uh, didn’t mean…”

I started chuckling at his being one-upped. “We know what you meant,” I filled in. “But we’re fine, so you can run along. I’m sure you’re needed for something at the moment.” Bitwolf shook his head. “No, free for the evening.” I glanced at Astrid, who suppressed a growl as she threw up her hands. “Whatever.”

* * *

A few minutes of practice were all Hiccup got before the sun began to disappear behind the trees. Being the middle of summer, it wouldn’t get truly dark for another few hours on Berk, but I had to head home, and so did the teens. “You do know your way back, right?” I asked jokingly. Astrid swung a punch at me, but held a smirk on her face. “Of course, doofus,” she lipped. I looked at Hiccup next. “By the way, a word of advice for tomorrow: don’t let anyone leave the village before I get there, alright?” He nodded, but Bitwolf still looked confused. “Why?” “Because I know the layout of this island better than some of the villagers, even if I don’t live here, per se. Most others would easily get lost if they venture too far.” Bitwolf eyed me curiously, but then shrugged it off. As I turned to leave, though, he began to walk behind me.

‘Where exactly is it that you live, anyway?” he asked. I turned around to face him, still walking backward. He stopped, expecting an answer, as I began to back through the thick ferns. I grinned. “Sorry, but I can’t tell you.” I turned around and sprinted into the forest, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye. Once out of sight, I heightened my hearing to see if he would continue to try following me.

“Wait a minute, come back here!” Bitwolf yelled. “I’m not into childish games, just tell me where you live!” “Hold it right there, Bitwolf,” Astrid snapped. “Don’t even try to follow him.” “And why not?” “Because for one, if Hawken doesn’t want to be found, or doesn’t want something to be found, it’s not going to be found. Two, if he finds you following him out there, it’s likely you’ll end up swimming back to Berk.”

I smirked and turned around, changing back to stealth dragon and taking to the air. As I glided unseen across the forest, I happened to glance out toward the ocean. A vast expanse of blue, dotted in the distance by the spouts of a pod of whales. During calm days like that one, the ocean was soothing, comforting. Nothing to worry about, just a small speck like a bird off in the distance. I turned my head back forward and….

Hold it. I looked back out across the ocean. There was the speck on the horizon, and as I watched, I noticed it was too big to be a bird. Nothing too unusual, since wayward dragons often passed through ,staying a night or two on the island before moving on. However, this speck wasn’t moving away or getting closer, and as I watched, it blinked out of view.

That was not good. There were only a few species of dragon able to vanish midair, and they weren’t exactly common, either. I shuddered, but new there was nothing I could do at the moment, not tonight. I needed to just get home and rest, because now I knew for sure that I would have to be on top of my game tomorrow.

I reached the portal and dove through, changing back and walking into my home. My sister was sitting on the couch as I walked in, watching some cartoon on the TV. She must have noticed how I felt, because she came up and hugged me. “What’s wrong?” she asked. I ruffled her hair. “Nothing, not that you need to worry about anyway.” Apparently I wasn’t very convincing. “Is something happening on Berk?” Holly asked. “Are Astrid and Hiccup alright?” I sighed. “They’re fie, but we have another tribe visiting who still doesn’t get along with dragons.” Holly’s eyes widened, but I stopped her before she could say anything. “don’t worry, the dragons are safe, and we’re taking extra care nothing happens. No one’s in danger or anything.” Under my breath, I muttered, “yet.” I looked down at Holly again. “I’ve got to get some sleep, okay? Where’s mom?” “Downstairs. You missed dinner by the way.” I frowned, but then shrugged. “I’ll just have a big breakfast then. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” “Okay, love you!” I smiled. “I love you too. Good night.”

I got very little sleep that night, in reality. Too many images were running through my head. There were too many ways for things to go wrong, and too few ways to prevent it.


	4. Shadow Danger

Ever have one of those days where you just happen to sleep in when something important is supposed to happen? Yeah, that was me. So after speed dressing and grabbing a really quick breakfast on the go, I raced to the portal, stopping to make sure Toothless knew what he needed to do, and then bolted to the village. Halfway there I remembered I couldn’t just fly into the town square, and so when I neared the edge of town I dropped to the ground, morphed back, and ran the rest of the way, startling a number of people as I sped by on my way to the meeting location.

When I got there, I spotted Hiccup and Astrid both off to one side, glancing around impatiently as they walked toward another group of people on the other side of the square. I grabbed them and pulled them over to the side for a moment.

“Hey! What gives!” Astrid snapped, whirling to find out who it was. Seeing me, she gave me a glare. “You’re late, by the way.” “Yeah, I know, sorry. It happens sometimes,” I excused. “Look, I think the Shadow Lord is near, if not on the island. I spotted something flying this way last night.”

Immediately the mood dropped even lower than it already was. “Will it even be safe to go on this hunt, then?” Hiccup inquired worriedly. I shook my head. “Unfortunately, probably not, but I already talked to Toothless, he’ll be shadowing us the whole way, and if we let it slip that we know anything about the whereabouts of any dragons, Ingavar will go ballistic.” I looked around, and seeing no one in hearing range still, I continued. “Toothless will be at hand, but this is a species of stealth dragon, Mystery Class, so keep your ears perked.” Astrid gave me an odd expression. “Don’t you mean keep your eyes open?” I just gave her a deadpan glance. “What?” “Stealth dragon,” Hiccup said. “You should know this, that means it can blend nearly perfectly with-“-it’s surroundings, yeah, I remember,” Astrid finished. She sighed. “Great, now I feel stupid.” “We all have our moments,” I muttered.

Astrid turned and nodded toward the gaggle of Vikings on the other side of the square and started heading in that direction. “Come on, then. The party is waiting for us.” I snorted. “Some party. Not even any cake or games.” Hiccup snickered behind me.

The hunting party waiting for us consisted of the teens, of course: Fishlegs, Snotlout, the Twins, and the three of us. But, unfortunately, we were stuck with at least one of the people from the visiting tribe, and who better that Bitwolf? “Jus’ te make sure you all don’ mess around out there,” Ingavar said. “Dragons ain’t the only creature out there te worry about.” Wolfblood was there to see us off too, and piped up, “Bitwolf is very experienced in the woods, so this should be a good learnin’ experience fer you all, even if ye don’t find the dragons. But if ye do, watch closely! He’s been killing dragons since he was four! Why, I still remember the moment he took on his first Terror! Ripped its head clean off!”

I watched as Hiccup began fidgeting and Astrid and Fishlegs both wore faces tainted with disgust. Naturally, the adults didn’t notice this at all, but they did notice one hard-to-ignore detail. “Hey, whit’s wrong with yer eyes there?” Ingavar asked, peering at me. “They be changing te a sickly green color. Ye feeling alright?” I blinked and looked at him, slowly making my eyes fade back to normal. “Yeah, sorry, nothing’s wrong. They do that on occasion if you recall.” Ingavar gave me a curious stare for a moment longer, but then shook his head and waved it off. “Well, no time te waste, yer already runnin’ late! Go out there and see if ye can nae find a few of those winged beasts! Try not te kill all of them, so we can train ye properly later!” Everyone nodded, keeping up the façade, save for me and Hiccup. No one noticed.

With that, we set off, while Ingavar and Wolfblood headed the other direction to attend to “tribal matters.” Bitwolf seemed intent on heading east, toward a thin patch of forest bordering the mountains and the seaside cliffs. This was perfectly fine in my book, as it was heading away from the portal and any other direction we’d have a problem with. About ten minutes later, I decided to make sure our shadow was doing what he was supposed to be doing. “Could you guys hold up a minute?” I asked. “I need to go take care of something real quick.” Of course, nearly everyone started snickering, save Hiccup and Astrid, as they all assumed a different purpose for the detour. I turned around and walked off into the forest, ignoring the jests, and disappeared into the ferns. After about 50 feet or so, I stopped and waited. Soon enough, Toothless appeared out from the undergrowth and walked up to me.

“You know what to do?” I asked. <Stay out of sight, keep an eye on the group, alert you if anything goes wrong, yada yada yada. Did I miss anything?> I eyed him suspiciously. “Been picking up that snark from Hiccup?” <And you. I live with the both of you constantly around, kind of hard not to have it rub off. What did you expect?> I sighed and smirked slightly. “Fine, okay. Just keep on your toes while we’re out here. You’re the sentry here, but I don’t want anything happening to you either. Hiccup would kill me.” <Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,> Toothless replied, turning and vanishing into the thicket again. I returned to the group, and immediately noticed Bitwolf giving me an awkward glance. But, he shrugged it off and turned to start leading the way again, muttering something about “taking way too long to just visit a tree.”

An hour of wandering through the southeastern forest found us getting really bored, and stuck with an increasingly frustrated Bitwolf. “By the gods, where are they all?!” he finally burst out as we moved away from a hole in the mountain side towering above us and into a grassy clearing. “Hours of walking around, looking in all the obvious hiding places, and even the not-so-obvious, and I mean, not even a stinking Terrible Terror to show for it! I just don’t get it!”

He continued to vent for a couple more minutes as the rest of us sat down to rest for a moment. Eventually I turned and caught Bitwolf’s attention. “Berk hasn’t had any serious dragon issues in a long time, not really since the Red Death incident,” I reminded him. Bitwolf stole a glance at Hiccup, reminded of who had the fame there, and then shook his head. “Well, we may have to head out across the mountains here then,” he said, gesturing to a low pass off to our right in the mountain chain. “There’s nothing over there, I assure you,” I said. “Well, then, maybe up in the mountains. Surely there’s a few lizards hanging out up in there. It’s the last place I can think of, other than trying to scale the sea stacks on the western side.” “Well, good luck trying to climb even-“ I was cut off as I heard a roar sound out from nearby. <Hawken! Watch out!!>

My blood froze, and I swept my eyes in a wide arc over the edge of the clearing. “What is it?” Tuffnut asked. “A dragon! Finally! And it sounds like a big one, too!” Bitwolf exclaimed, starting to head in that direction. I shook my head. “No! Everyone get in a circle, now!” I yelled. “Face out, weapons at the ready!” Luckily, no one questioned the order and did as asked. No one except Bitwolf, that is.

“You idiot, get in the circle!” Ruffnut hissed at him. “Why?” he countered. “We finally have the dragon we’re-“ “JUST DO IT!!” everyone yelled. Bitwolf stared for a second, then reluctantly joined the ring, pulling out his axe. Everyone grabbed their weapons, Astrid and Hiccup grabbing their carved swords (recall the festival the year before) as I grabbed mine and pulled out another sword, a third still on my back just in case.

Silence. We waited, not a single muscle moving, save for our eyes flickering across the clearing. I morphed slightly, my vision growing stronger along with my hearing, but I still couldn’t pick anything up. I glanced at the others in the group, who were also still waiting for something to happen. Nothing. After a couple of minutes, Hiccup turned slightly to me and whispered, “What was that?” “Don’t know,” I whispered back. “Toothless yelled to watch out, and he doesn’t make himself known for just any reason. I’m assum-“

“LOOK OUT!!!” Astrid screamed. I whipped my head to the side, and brought my swords up in defense.

RROOOOOAAARRRR!!!

So the Shadow Lord was real. It had snuck up around the side, where my peripheral vision couldn’t catch the dimpling in the grass. Now, it was fully visible, and leapt straight toward us. Bitwolf and Ruffnut dove out of the way, and I swung my blades toward the beast.

SCHWWAANNNGG!!!!

The blades, along with Astrid’s sword, collided with its massive snout, the loud noise resulting from metal on scales that were hard as rock. It shrieked in surprise and fell back for a second, giving us a chance to see just what it looked like.

The dragon wasn’t as large as I had imagined, but still nearly 50 feet in length, with deep blue, almost black, iridescent scales, dark horns on its head, and massive wings. Everything was nearly the same as the description I had read, save for one detail…. The Shadow Lord had a pair of blades instead of fins at the end of its tail.

It leveled a glare at me, and I sent a glare like burning embers back at it, making the beast blink in surprise, watching my eyes shift colors. I grinned and slid my swords across each other, crossing them in a gesture of warning. I glanced at Hiccup for a second and motioned for him to move toward the forest’s edge. The Shadow Lord noticed, and hissed, couching and lunging for Hiccup.

BOOOMMMM!!

The dragon shrieked as it was pushed back and into the trees by the indigo blast. Toothless dove down into the clearing, and leapt in front of Hiccup, baring his teeth at the new dragon. It rolled to its feet and glared at Hiccup mounting Toothless, and bared its teeth back. <So you’re the ones,> he hissed. <Had to go and ruin everything.> <I beg to differ,> I hissed in reply, gaining the Shadow Lord’s attention again. He narrowed his eyes at me. <Of all the places I go to hunt, I have to run into you.> I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could, Bitwolf finally noticed what Hiccup was doing.

“Are you nuts?! That’s a Night Fury!” he yelled. I turned my head, and the Shadow Lord took his chance, fixating on Bitwolf who was busy yelling at Hiccup, and jumped.

“AAAAHHH!!” “Bitwolf!” The dragon tackled him, pinning the teen to the ground, and was about to fire when I barreled into the side of his neck. Bitwolf scrambled to his feet and screamed at me, “ARE YOU CRAZY?!” I glared at him, then focused on the Shadow Lord again. He was burning in rage as he faced me down again.

“Game on,” I growled, putting away my swords and spreading a pair of rock-hard Timberjack wings, and whipping out a long tail behind me. Toothless and Hiccup padded up next to me, taking a stand as I finished the morph, fully Timberjack with rock-hard scales on top.

“Everyone to the trees,” I ordered, my eyes not leaving the snarling dragon in front of me. I heard the teens dash into the relative safety of the forest, and watched as the Shadow Lord’s eyes snapped upward for a second, then back to me, preparing to make a move. I readied myself, right as he jumped. I leapt up at the same time, grabbing his front legs with the claws on my wings, and slammed him back to the ground, floating down to land again myself. The dragon looked up at me, snarled a cheeky grin (at least, as much as any dragon can really grin) and faded immediately from view. I pounced again, but hit nothing but grass.

There was the faint rushing of air suddenly, and I heard the dragon’s voice sneer, <Find me now, gifted one.> The voice emanated from somewhere above me, so I glanced up, looking to see if I could spot any sign of the dragon. In return, I was forced to leap out of the way of a stream of fire as he appeared for a split second to attack, then disappeared again. I glanced at Hiccup and Toothless, who nodded, reading my mind, and we launched into the air, spiraling upward in an unpredictable pattern. As I twisted my way up, I opened my mouth and released a cloud of fuel like a Zippleback, filling the air with green mist, then twisted away as Toothless fired into it, setting the cloud alight. The fireball rocketed outward, forcing Hiccup to yelp, “Hey!” and turn Toothless out of the way, as I turned to peer into the flames. Sure enough, the sudden blast had caught the Shadow Lord off guard, and a flash of blackish scales appeared in the midst of the inferno.

Toothless spotted the same thing, and fired again, the explosion knocking the dragon out of the flames and into plain sight, and dazing him just enough to make him fully drop the stealth cloak. He spotted me diving toward him, and dashed to the right, but not fast enough. I grabbed him by the tail, and yanked him downward, driving him to the ground. He hit with a massive crash, dazing him again, and groaned. I landed on top of him, effectively pinning the dragon, and forced him immobile.

<Leave this island, now,> I snarled, as Toothless landed nearby, giving his own snarl to match mine, <or I’ll leave you crippled and at the mercy of the Night Fury and the Vikings.> the Shadow Lord stole a glance at the pair beside me. <Such a pathetic alliance,> he sneered. <It’ll never last, I’m not the only one you’ll be facing.> Toothless bristled at the comment, and I raised my tail and smacked the Shadow Lord across the snout. <I said leave. Now.> I stepped back, letting the dragon get to his feet, shakily. He turned to fly off, but gave me one last glare. <This isn’t the last time we’ll meet, I assure you that,> he snapped.

Then, he turned and streaked into the sky, arcing toward the cliffs edging the island, unreachable save by boat or dragon, and disappeared. I snorted, then turned and changed back to myself once he was out of sight. Hiccup unlatched himself and hopped off of the saddle. Toothless glanced at me. “You can follow until we reach the edge of the village,” I said. He nodded, and followed behind us as we headed into the forest.

“Astrid?” “Over here!”

I turned my head in the direction of the reply, and followed it into another, smaller clearing a ways off. There, we found the other teens gathered in a semi-circle, Bitwolf standing in the middle, arms crossed. As Hiccup and Toothless stepped in behind me, he shook his head.

“So,” he muttered, “the rumors are, in fact, truth, huh?” Astrid glanced at him. “What rumors?” Bitwolf shrugged. “You Hooligans ride dragons now. There have been stories leaking southward for a while now.” He gestured toward Hiccup. “But, if he has the Night Fury with him, where are the rest of your dragons?” “Away,” I snapped, “to make sure none of you lot try to take off their heads.” “Then why is the Night fury here?” “Because he’s the only one besides me who is stealthy enough to evade detection.” Bitwolf sent a wayward glare in my direction, and then raised his eyebrow. “Speaking of you,” he began, uncrossing his arms and walking up to me, “what on earth are you? People should not be able to just sprout wings and fly.”

I feigned innocence for a moment. “Gee, I’m not sure what you mean.” Bitwolf snorted, and ignored the twins snickering in the back. ‘Oh, please, don’t play that game. I watched back there as you turned into a full-size Timberjack. No ordinary human can do something like that. What is it, witchcraft?” I laughed. “No, no, I beg to differ. One ordinary human can do that, me. And no, it’s not witchcraft; it was a gift, actually. Now, you know one of my secrets, congratulations.” I stepped forward, my face an inch from his. “Now, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll not ask any more questions and you’ll keep your mouth shut about this whole business.” In response, Bitwolf just gave me a withering glare. In return, I shot back one equally as withering, combined with burning red eyes. He decided to back off for the moment.

“Well, at least I know the truth now,” he muttered. “Ingavar is still completely blind to the whole thing. He doesn’t have the slightest clue. In fact, only my father and I have intercepted any of the stories.” I sighed. “And here we go.” Bitwolf stopped for a moment and looked at me. “What do you mean by that, pray tell?” he asked. I smiled slightly. “Another of my secrets. I know one of the things you’re about to ask. And for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that I don’t trust you an inch, I say no, you can’t learn how to ride dragons, certainly not yet at least.” Immediately, Bitwolf went red, clenching his teeth, then raised his hands toward the other teens.

“By the gods, how on earth do you stand him?” he exploded. The teens just started laughing. “He’s been more help than hurt in the time we’ve known him,” Fishlegs said. “We’ve been able to make lasting peace treaties with two major enemies in the past year because he was around to help.” “Yeah,” Snotlout continued, “and he’s a good fighter. Plus, we know more of-“ BANG! “Ow! Hey!” “Shut up already!” I hissed, not feeling the least bit sorry for smacking him in the head. “That’s more than enough from you.” I turned back to Bitwolf. “You know what you need to know, actually a lot more than I’d prefer you to know, and now we really need to head back to the village. End of story.”

No one questioned that decision, so with that final word, we began weaving our way back toward Berk. On the way, Fishlegs sidled up next to me. “Uh, so what do we do if someone mentions our run-in with the Shadow Lord?” he whispered. I shrugged. “We’re going to have to tell,” I whispered back, “but I do have an idea for an excuse as to what happened.” He nodded, and moved back to where he was walking before. I walked over to Hiccup and tapped him on the shoulder. “What?” he asked. “When we get back to the village, you’re going to have to build a new weapon,” I said. “Why?” to cover up the fact that we were working with Toothless to scare off the Shadow Lord. No one can know that we’ve got dragons on the island.” Hiccup sighed. “Well, then, I really hope you have a good idea of what I’m supposed to make, because I’ve got nothing here.” “Don’t worry,” I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “It’ll work out.” I then sidled over to Toothless, who was skirting the edge of the group, glancing around in all directions. “We’re getting close to the village, so it’d probably be a good idea for you to head back to the cove now.” He looked up at me, still anxious. <You sure you can handle it if anything happens?> he queried. I gave him a deadpan glance. <Okay, okay, just asking.> he turned and took off into the forest <I expect to see you before you leave,> he called out as he vanished. “Will do,” I replied.

Bitwolf glanced in my direction as I said this. “So, not only can you turn into a dragon, you can talk to them, huh?” “You tell me,” I said. He didn’t reply to that. We walked in silence the rest of the way to the village.

A couple of minutes later, we reached the edge of the settlement. Ingavar, Stoick, and Wolfblood were nearby, by Stoick’s house, and quickly spotted us. “Any success?” Wolfblood asked. “Eh, you could sort of say that,” Bitwolf drawled, glancing sidelong at me. Ingavar turned to me as well. “So, what happened?” he asked. “Did ye not manage te at least kill a couple of dragons?” I shook my head. “No, no, we didn’t kill any, but we did have a run-in with one.” “Oh? What kind?” I sighed. “All I can really say is we know for sure the shadow Lord is on the island now.”

The three adults gasped. “Ye saw it?” Stoick asked. We nodded. Ingavar looked the teens up and down. “How on earth did ye survive? A Shadow Lord can kill Night Furies! And ye eight inexperienced teens escaped?” I nodded. “Yeah, Hiccup had a bit of a special weapon with him. It managed to scare off the Shadow Lord, for the moment.” Ingavar now turned to face Hiccup. “Oh? And where is this weapon? Must be quite something to look at if it can scare away such a dragon.”

Hiccup fidgeted a little bit, glancing irritatedly in my direction. “Well, uh, I already, uh, hid it away. I have to, uh, make some tweaks, since it was damaged somewhat when we were attacked. “He scratched the back of his head. “It’s kind of sensitive, too, so I uh, don’t want anyone to mess with it.” Ingavar gave him the fisheye, then focused on Bitwolf. “So, did you see this weapon?” Bitwolf opened his mouth with a bit of a smirk, but then caught my look, and stuttered, “Well, uh, yeah, I did. But I didn’t see where he, uh, he put it.” I spotted the disappointment in Wolfblood’s eyes, confirming one of my suspicions: he was definitely planning something.

Ingavar stood up straight and nodded. “Well, then, we’ll see tomorrow just how well this ‘weapon’ works. You, Hiccup, will accompany us on another hunt tomorrow, with your, well, whatever it is. If we come across a dragon, you will get to demonstrate it.”

Hiccup groaned quietly, and Ingavar headed off to do who-knows-what. Wolfblood motioned Bitwolf to follow him, and I looked at Hiccup. “Fill your dad in on what happened. I need to keep an eye on those two.” He nodded, and I headed off unseen, following the two new Vikings. I knew they were going to be trouble; I just needed to know how much. I slid along houses as the pair strode down the road.

The pair made their way across the village, and walked behind their temporary dwelling. I slid behind a row of trees and bushes nearby, and listened.

“So what really happened?” Wolfblood half-whispered. Bitwolf shifted awkwardly. “Well, the rumors were true, for once.” “You mean Hiccup actually has a Night Fury?” “Yeah. Plus, as is probably obvious, there wasn’t any weapon with him. He’ll probably build one on the spot in the forge tonight.” Wolfblood waved this info off. “That’s not surprising. It works out though. He’ll build the device, and you’ll find some way to sabotage it. He’ll go on the hunt tomorrow, look like a fool, and that’s one step closer to where we need to be.” Bitwolf looked anxious. “Why do I have to be the one to sabotage it? It’s your plan.” “It has to be you,” Wolfblood responded, “because you’re more easily able to slip past prying eyes. One teen isn’t noticeable, yer age group is always getting in trouble and snooping around. If I go sneaking around the forge, people will notice.” He shifted and crossed his arms. “Now, did anything else happen while ye were out that I should know about?” Bitwolf nodded, then glanced around to make sure no one could hear them. I smirked.

“You remember that weird teen that’s always with Hiccup and the others? The one who doesn’t live in the village, and has that hair that looks like he was just woken up?” My eyes narrowed; my hair wasn’t that bad! Wolfblood nodded. “Yeah, he’s hard te miss. That boy-what’s his name, uh, Hawker?-seems to know more about what happens in the village than Stoick!” Bitwolf nodded. “Yeah, you’re right about that. His name’s Hawken, by the way. Anyway, he’s actually the one who scared off the Shadow Lord. I mean, Hiccup and his dragon helped, but that boy probably did most of the work.” Wolfblood gave his son an incredulous look. “That twig? Sure, he’s got some good strength and aim with weapons, but I doubt he’s even got the skill to take on a Nightmare, let alone the Shadow Lord.” “Well, he did.” Wolfblood narrowed his eyes. “And how did he do so?” Bitwolf grinned. “He can do a lot more than that. See, it turns out he can-“

“-Hear everything the both of you are saying?” I snapped, stepping out of the trees and glaring at the pair. They both jumped in surprise, and Wolfblood unsheathed the sword on his hip. “What in blazes are you doing here?” he spat. I laughed and, in response to his pulling out a sword, pulled out two of my own. “Oh, please, I’m only doing my job: keeping things under proper order around here,” I replied casually. Wolfblood glared at me. “How much did you overhear?” I shrugged. “Oh, just everything. I should mention I’ll be helping Hiccup all night with the deterrent as well, and I’ll be taking it with me when we’re done, so nobody messes with-“

I was cut short as Wolfblood suddenly swiped his sword up at me. He was hoping to catch me off guard and smack me in the head, but I flashed my sword sideways and slammed his blade to the dirt. He yelped slightly as the force wrenched his wrist.

“Try that again and I will prove I’m every it capable of stringing you up by your underwear in the village plaza,” I hissed, then turned to Bitwolf. “And as for you, if I tell you to keep your mouth shut about something, you should do as you’re told. I’ve already warned you once.” Bitwolf glanced at me, then smiled just slightly. “He can turn into a dragon!” he said quickly, before I could stop him.

FLASH!

Bitwolf brought his hand up to his cheek, feeling the shallow cut I’d left. “I said shut up!” I hissed again. “You do know what I’m capable of.” I glanced at Wolfblood, who was still glaring at me. “And, apparently, now so do you, so this is your warning: drop your little game now, whatever it is, or else I will make sure you’re absolutely humiliated once this village is done with you!”

I whirled around and disappeared into the trees, leaving the two hanging. Once again, I hid myself nearby and listened as Wolfblood naturally had his son tell him what I had done earlier that day. Luckily, Bitwolf only knew a small piece of the truth, one fact about my ability.

“Hah! Only a Timberjack?” Wolfblood laughed and shook his head. “I’ve taken down those dragons many a time. He’s no worry then. You still know what to do, if you get the chance.” I narrowed my eyes, and morphed to Shadow dragon. “We’ll see about that,” I whispered.

* * *

I raced through the village unseen (after all, I was travelling through shadows, no one could see me) and searched for Hiccup. Luckily, I quickly found him at his house, up in his room. I rematerialized quickly and spoke up.

“So, did you inform Stoick about what happened?” I asked. “YAAHHHH!!” Hiccup jerked backward and fell onto his bed. “Cut that out will you?” he snapped. “I’m going to die of a heart attack before I’m 30 with you around.” “Sorry,” I apologized, “but did you?” He stood up again and nodded, brushing off his shirt. “Yeah, we scared off the Shadow Lord temporarily, and Bitwolf not only knows we have dragons, but that you can turn into one.” I nodded. “So does Wolfblood now. Neither of those two can really be trusted to keep their mouths closed.” Hiccup sighed and walked over to his desk, slumping into his chair. “Well, things just get better and better, don’t they?” he commented sarcastically. I nodded in agreement. “Uh huh. Anyway, we need to get down to the forge. We both have some serious work to do..” He nodded and got up. When he reached his door, though, he stopped. “We might want to find Gobber for this, too,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Gobber was already at the forge when we got there. “Ay, Hiccup!” he called out as we walked up. “Where ‘ave ye been?” “Dealing with invisible dragons and pain-in-the-butt Vikings,” Hiccup replied. Gobber nodded. “So business as usual. I take it yer referring te that Wolf-whatever pair?” We nodded. Gobber set down his tools as we entered and turned to us. “Well, I know how ye feel. The younger one came down early this mornin’, with an order to make new blades fer some o’ their axes.” He lowered his voice. “O’ course the blades won’t do them much good at the moment. I’ll nae take any chances o’ George getting’ hurt.”

I should mention that George was the name Gobber had chosen for the Boneknapper he and the teens had run into a couple of years before. He didn’t show up on the island often, but was usually found with the burly blacksmith when he was around.

“Well, we’re here for a slightly different reason,” I spoke up, patting Hiccup on the shoulder. “In order to cover up for me and Toothless being at the scene of the Shadow Lord, we need to get to work on a very special crossbow.”


	5. The Eel Bow

“Alright, what’ve ye got in mind?” Gobber queried as we all squeezed into Hiccup’s tiny back room. I sat down at the desk and found a blank sheet of parchment. Hiccup handed me a “pencil” and I started drawing out my idea. “You’ll probably have to redraw this, as I suck at drawing anything other than snakes and plants, but I hope it gives a rough idea,” I explained as I caught the confused eyebrows.

After a couple minutes I had completed a rough sketch, and held it out. “In order to actually have a chance at scaring off a dragon like the Shadow Lord, it would have to be able to fire quickly and in succession, meaning multiple shots at a time or being able to reload by just pulling back the string or other mechanism,” I explained. I gave Gobber the sheet. “We also know that dragons hate eels, though I have yet to inquire as to why, which is the reason for the odd arrow design.” Gobber nodded. “I was gonna say, I’ve nae seen arrows like that before.” “They’re designed to hold pieces of eel, fresh or dried, in the tips, and hopefully break apart on impact so that it’s scattered about,” I continued. “Also, hopefully the three levels mean we can figure a way for it to shoot up to 3 arrows at a time.”

“This is going to take a little while,” Hiccup said, “but I think I can get the arrows done relatively quickly.” Gobber nodded in agreement. “I’ll start working on the bow,” he offered, then glanced at me. “If ye want te get any eels, ye best get down tae the dock immediately. They should be bringing in the catch soon, and they tend tae throw most o’ the eels back now.” I nodded. “You can keep everyone else out of the forge while we’re working, right?” I asked as I turned to leave. Gobber just gave me a deadpan glare. “Alright, alright, just asking.”

I found an out-of-sight dark corner and morphed Shadow Dragon, and melted out of sight. It made it a lot easier to travel around the village in that way instead of wasting time weaving between houses and people who get in your way, especially what with the population of the village at that point being up 50%. When I reached the docks I materialized and changed back behind the main storehouse when no one was looking, and headed toward the nearest fishing boat. Sure enough, almost right away I spotted Bucket about to toss one of the black and yellow worms overboard.

“Hold up!” I shouted. It worked; Bucket stopped and looked over at me. “Don’t throw that over!” I yelled up, walking up the plank. He gave me an odd look. “Why not? We don’t really eat them anymore.” He smiled. “But I never liked eel anyway.” I nodded. “Well, I need it for Hiccup. Bucket smiled and nodded. “Is he workin’ on something new?” he asked. “Sort of.” “Does it have te do with the dragon problem?” I nodded again, and Bucket shrugged and handed me the slimy creature. “Okay, have fun!” Then he turned back to dealing with the fish. I nodded and quietly muttered, “Sure, we will.”

I hadn’t yet tried taking other objects with me when I went Shadow, so on the way back to the forge I did have to walk, and, naturally, it took much longer since there is no straight path on Berk. However, as I made my way back, I began to notice that wherever the slime from the eel was touching my skin, a tingling sensation was building up, and getting worse. By the time I had reached the forge, my hands were downright burning and stinging. I dropped the eel on a bench and ran over to the bellows, shoving my hands in the coals to burn the slime off. Almost immediately the sensation died off.

“That was weird,” I muttered. Hiccup gave me a strange look. “What, you sticking your hands in the fire? Or the fact that you being part dragon means you didn’t get burnt?” I shook my head and glared at him. “No, Captain Obvious, there is something on the eel that was making my hands burn. The fire seems to have burnt whatever it was off though.” Gobber looked up from where he was studying my drawing, and gestured over to a far bench. “Well, if ye need somethin’ te protect yer hands so ye can cut it up, there’s some leather gloves over there somewhere on tha’ bench there.” I walked over and rummaged around through the pile on the shelf, and sure enough, found a thick pair of gloves. I grabbed them and put them on, then picked up a sharp knife and went to work on the eel.

So, first off, I had never like even cleaning fish. An eel is ten times worse, covered in what looks like snot and overall just disgusting looking especially when dead. By the time I had managed to cut it into proper sized pieces, I had to stop about 3 times to keep from throwing up and the sight. When I was done, I quick-froze the chunks to keep them from going rancid before they were needed, and looked at Hiccup.

“That bad, huh?” he snickered. I nodded. “Yes, that bad. I guess I’m more dragon than I thought.” I glanced at the frozen eel pieces, and then used the gloves to sweep them into a bucket so that they wouldn’t just be sitting out in the open.

Past that, I stood guard outside, keeping people from trying to get into the forge to talk to Gobber and Hiccup. Unfortunately, that meant steering away a lot of large, often foul-tempered Vikings, many of which were the visitors and didn’t know or respect the role I had earned in the village. Many a curse word flew my way that day when I wouldn’t budge from the door. Luckily, I wasn’t completely alone in my task for most of it.

After a particularly grumpy Viking had been shoved away from the shop, I heard a very recognizable and welcome voice call out, “Need a hand?” I turned to greet Astrid as she jogged up, axe in hand as if she’d just come from training. I nodded at her question. “Yeah, the visiting tribe isn’t exactly the friendliest. What have you been up to, anyway?” she shrugged. “Eh, not much, taking care of a few household chores and then doing a little training in the woods.” “I guessed as much,” I commented, nodding to her weapon. She returned the gesture. “I also gave Bitwolf a good punch to the face,” she continued, and glanced at me. “He is really hard-headed, you know. Still isn’t heeding your advice,” she said, and nodded to the forge, “and still thinks he’s better than Hiccup.”

Astrid then glanced at the forge directly. “By the way, what exactly is so secret that they’re keeping the windows locked up though?” “Remember the weapon Hiccup needed to build?” “Oh, right. What is it, anyway?” I shuddered. “An idea I really shouldn’t have come up with. It’s an eel bow.” Astrid crinkled her face in response. “What, dare I ask, is an eel bow?” “It’s a modified crossbow; it shoots multiple arrows at a time. The arrows are loaded with pieces of eel at the tips, to deter the Shadow Lord.” I glanced at my hands. “Unfortunately, I had to be the one to cut up the eel.”

Astrid turned a bit green. “You’re kidding, right?” I shook my head. “No, not kidding. It was gross, but even worse, it was stinging my hands as I carried it up here. I had to burn the slime off to make it stop.”

Astrid causally leaned back against the forge in thought. “You think that’s why dragons don’t like eels? Because it burns them?” she asked. I shrugged. “Maybe. I haven’t asked Toothless about that yet, but now I need to.” I looked over at her. “But, then what causes the burn?” I queried. “A defensive irritant? Something in dragon skin that reacts with the eel? Is it poison?” Now it was Astrid’s turn to shrug. “Well, you said you need to ask Toothless about it, and none of us have the answer.” I sighed. “Yeah, I really have been meaning to, but it keeps slipping my mind.” She gave me a sidelong glance, letting me know she doubted it was just me forgetting, but then we both just went back to guarding the door.

* * *

As the day wore on, word spread rather quickly through the small village that no one was going to be permitted into the forge for business of any kind, save for the chief if he showed up (Berk’s chief, not the visiting one), and the number of people stopping by dwindled until it numbered only the rest of the teens and Stoick. But, by late evening, as the sun dipped toward the horizon, only Astrid and I were anywhere near the smithy. I took a glance toward the door, perking my ears. There was barely any noise coming from inside at the moment. I looked at Astrid.

“It’s gotten unusually quiet in there,” I muttered. She nodded. “I was just thinking the same-“

CRASH! “Augh, Hiccup!!”

We both gave each other the same look, then Astrid cracked open the door and peered in, before bursting out laughing. I came over to look as well, and joined her in her fit of giggles. “Well, well, me and my big mouth,” I giggled. “I should’ve known you’d manage to knock something over sooner or later in here.” There, on the floor, was a large bucket of unused metal shards and pieces now strewn across the floor. Standing above the mess, and looking very guilty and embarrassed, was Hiccup and a large hammer, half the size of his head. He looked up at us and groaned.

“Oh, come on now, and I really that much of a klutz to you guys?” He griped. “Yep,” came Gobber’s short reply from by the bellows. “And thank you, Gobber, for summing _that_ up,” Hiccup grumbled.

“Well, back to the situation at hand,” Astrid began, “how’s the bow coming along?” “The arrows were harder than I thought,” Hiccup replied as he began gingerly picking up the metal shards, “but I’ve got around 30 of them done, and I think that should be enough.” He gestured to the workbench, and I walked over, picking up one of the finished arrows. I looked it over briefly and nodded. “Looks good. How is the crossbow itself coming?” I asked, turning to the head smith. He shrugged. “Still have te attach the strings and a proper trigger, but I think it’s nearly finished.” He picked up the weapon and held it out, and I took it to look over.

It was better than I had expected, though I had little skill in weapons making to begin with. There were three stacked firing grooves where the arrows would be released from, one on top of the other, and on either side were compartments for extra already loaded arrows, so that it would be no more than a pulling back of the strings to reload. I hand it back to Gobber, and he got to work installing the trigger system.

The evening dragged on, punctuated only by occasional snippets of conversation, but otherwise fairly dull. I kept the bellows properly heated since Toothless and the Terrors weren’t around to help, and finally, at nearly eleven at night, the bow was finished. Hiccup held it up, and just barely was able to hold it level to the nearby wall. “Let’s test it out,” he said. I nodded in agreement, and grabbed three of the arrows out of the quiver we had stashed them in. Hiccup took them, and loaded them into the side chambers. He pulled the triple drawstring back into position, and I heard the arrows roll into place. Then, Hiccup took aim at a small target on the wall (okay it was an old shield, but what’s the difference?), and pulled the trigger.

SSCCCHHEEEWWWWW!! THUUNNNKKK!!!

All three arrows speared across the room, hitting the target at high speed. Not only did the tips splay apart like they were supposed to, but the shafts themselves embedded themselves a good inch deep into the wood.

Astrid whistled. “I think we may have found the perfect weapon for you,” she commented. Hiccup blushed slightly. “We-well, at least we know it works,” he stuttered slightly, looking it over again. I was about to reply, before I was cut off by a very loud yawn from Gobber’s direction. We all glared at him, and he shrugged.

“Personally, I think it’s time te get off te bed,” he grumbled. “Especially if ye are all goin’ on a hunt tomorrow, so you’ll need yer strength. Now,” he continued, walking toward the back of the forge, “where are we goin’ te put that thing? We don’ want anyone messin’ with it.” I nodded. “Agreed. I’ll just take it with me tonight,” I offered. “I overheard a couple of people planning on trying to sabotage our little excursion, so I don’t want to take any chances.” I looked at Hiccup. “Can you take the arrows and, uh, ‘arrow filling’?” He crinkled his nose. “Only if they’re completely frozen.” I smirked and looked at the bucket. “Actually, I decided they would work better dried, so I did that earlier.” I picked up the handle and held it out to him. He gingerly took it. “Well, I guess that’s better than melting eel chunks,” was his reply.

I turned toward the door, and stuck my head outside, looking around the plaza in all directions.

Something moved. I snapped my head in that direction and tuned my night vision. “Of course,” I muttered when I spotted him. Bitwolf was already down here, waiting. I motioned for Hiccup to take the rear exit, and then slid along the side of the forge, keeping the bow hidden and myself in the shadows, until I ducked into the slight alleyway between the forge and the storage shed. There, I morphed to Stealth Dragon, and launched myself into the air.

I didn’t fly home, but instead glided over to the building Bitwolf was hiding behind, and landed silently on the roof above him. I peered over to see him staring at the forge as Hiccup snuck out, and Gobber casually walked out the front to his house. Astrid also left, running toward her own home. I leaned down just as Bitwolf began moving forward, still invisible to his eyes.

“Give it up already, you won’t find it,” I whispered. Bitwolf jerked in surprise and turned, his eye sweeping right over and past me. “Who’s there?” he growled, taking out his axe. “Take a guess,” I hissed in reply. “Might as well give up the search, I have the weapon with me. You’re not going to get anywhere with this.” I launched into the air with that, leaving Bitwolf spluttering in frustration, and curved toward my own home, the bow safely between my paws.


	6. On the Hunt, Again

In the morning, I managed to wake up early for once, and after taking care of a couple things at my house, I raced to Berk, traveling to Hiccup’s house as a stealth dragon and slipping in through his window. Once safely inside, I changed back, glanced at the bed, and groaned slightly. Hiccup was still asleep (though I can’t really blame him, since we were up late the night before), so I took a seat in the chair at his desk, setting the crossbow in my hands on top of the desk, and waited for him to finally get up.

Not long after I sat down, I spotted the quiver of arrows set up against the side of his desk. I extended a tail out and lifted them up, bringing them closer so I could look at them. All were in proper shape and order, and apparently Hiccup had done a little more work last night as a few of them were already equipped with the dried pieces of eel in them. Choosing to avoid any other incidents like the day before, I carefully set the quiver back down and went back to counting the minutes, waiting for the sleeping lump on the bed to stir.

It wasn’t long until Hiccup finally woke up though. He blinked a couple of times and stretched, then slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. Then, he turned toward his desk and spotted me sitting cross-legged in the chair.

“I told you I’d meet you at your house,” I said as he jerked in surprise. At least he didn’t yelp out loud this time around though, so it was an improvement. “You know,” he began as he slid out of bed and onto his feet, “with you around I’m going to end up never being surprised by anything.” I snorted as the fumbled around the room, looking for his socks and boots. “Come on then,” I said, once he found them, “everyone’s probably already gathering to go on the hunt, and I’m sure Ingavar isn’t a very patient person.” He grabbed the quiver of arrows, and I handed him the bow. We went downstairs and spent a couple more minutes preparing the last of the arrows (though Hiccup had to do most of it, even dried eels still had some of that slimy oil on them), before heading out the door to the village square.

Unsurprisingly, Astrid and Ingavar were already there waiting for us. Astrid was always a morning person (something neither Hiccup or I can understand), and Ingavar was punctual as always. Soon enough we were joined by Stoick, Wolfblood, and Bitwolf, along with Stoick’s brother Spitelout. After a few more minutes, no one else bothered to appear, so we all assumed that was the group for the day. Ingavar’s first act was to focus on Hiccup as we headed for the forest.

“So, Hiccup, where’s tha’ weapon ye said ye have?” Ingavar barked. Hiccup sighed and reached behind him, grabbing the crossbow and holding it up for everyone to see. Ingavar took it and held it up, looking the weapon over. A smirk of amusement spread across his face. “Oh, this ought ta be good!” he chortled. “A simple crossbow, fending off the Shadow Lord? That would be priceless!” Hiccup and I shared a look of exasperation, and Hiccup took back the bow without saying anything, and faced forward.

Ingavar looked around, making sure no one else was joining us, then gestured to the forest. “Alright, let’s be off then!” he bellowed, and began down the path in front of us, everyone else filing in a line behind him. As we headed out, I took notice that Ingavar had smartly chosen about the same direction as the teens had the day before, probably thinking that we’d have a good chance of finding the dragon in the same location. Whatever the case, it was fine with me, as we weren’t heading in any direction that would lead us to the cove, or Toothless.

Once again, an hour or so passed without seeing anything large than a pheasant. It was apparent Ingavar was getting a bit disgruntled.

“Ugh, not even the slightest sign that dragons were ever here!” he snapped, frustration leaking out a bit as he glanced around the clearing we were presently stopped in. Suddenly, I felt a light tapping on my shoulder. I turned to find Astrid glancing around the clearing as well, but with a concerned expression on her features. “Notice anything about where we are?” she whispered. I looked a little closer at our surroundings, and my eyes widened. I nodded in agreement. This was the same clearing that we had run into the Shadow Lord dragon the day before.

CRACK!

I jumped and spun around, facing the forest. Something large was moving toward us, trying to be quiet as it moved closer to us, but failing at it as another branch snapped somewhere in the woods.

“Hiccup!” Ingavar shouted. “Git yer weapon ready, this may be our chance!” Hiccup nodded and raised the bow as a flash of rough scales appeared and disappeared behind the row of trees. As Hiccup loaded the arrows, a thought hit me: _those scales were blue!_

Sure enough, after a couple seconds more, an urgent growl sounded out. <Hawken! I need to talk to you!>

My eyes widened, and I leaned over to Astrid. “It’s Thorn!” I whispered. Her eyes widened, and she leaned over to Hiccup and whispered something. Whatever she said, it caused Hiccup to give a start, and he glanced at me, concerned.

“Fire the weapon, but don’t hit her!” I whispered. He nodded, but I could see denial in Astrid’s eyes. She was protective of her dragon, and we all knew about Hiccup’s former track record. I shook my head at her, and she glared in warning at me.

“Oy! Whit are ye whisperin’ about over there?” Wolfblood asked quietly. “Nothing,” I growled back. Then, using a tone low enough so that Thorn could hear me, but the Vikings couldn’t, I called out, <Thorn! Show yourself, but run off when Hiccup fires the bow! I’ll find you after that!> <A bow?! You know how Hiccup is with weapons!> she called back. <Yes, I know, but it’s necessary. Just do it!> <You better be sure about this.>

A few seconds later, Thorn peeked her head out of the bushes between a pair of trees at the clearing’s edge. I heard Ingavar sigh in disappointment.   
“Well, at least if yer bow doesn’t work, Hiccup, it’ll be easy enough to kill,” he said. I bristled at the comment, but didn’t say anything out loud. Instead I looked at Hiccup and nodded. He raised the bow, cocked the string, and pointed it toward the thick tree to Thorn’s right.

SHHHHEEEWWW!!!SHHEWWWW!!SHHEEEWWWW!!!

THUNKTHUNKTHUNK!

The arrows hit the tree and shattered, the dried eel flying everywhere around the area. One landed on Thorn’s nose, and unsurprisingly, she immediately went nuts.

<Augh! Eel! What in the world are you shooting it for??!!> She shook her head, throwing off the piece, and backed away, rubbing her nose against the trees frantically. <GO!!> I snapped. <Oh, right! Silly me for forgetting that while you hit me in the face with poisonous sea worms!> she screeched right back, but then bolted off and disappeared into the woods. As she did so, Everyone’s attention focused on Hiccup, giving me a chance to slip off to the side and into the trees, following Thorn’s trail.

Thorn had stopped about a hundred yards away, and when I stepped out in front of her, she turned to me, quite apparently less than pleased. <Okay, first of all, what was all that about back there?!> she snapped angrily. I sighed. “We had to create some sort of weapon that could scare off a dragon, specifically the Shadow Lord,” I explained, “and the only thing that I could think of that no dragon likes is eels.” <Well, it works,> Thorn snapped again. <But why use it on me?> “Because the other Vikings don’t know about you, remember?” I said tiredly. “You should be glad Hiccup has better aim with bows than other weapons anyway. And one more question I need answered: what is it about eels that makes them not mix with dragons?” <They’re poisonous,> Thorn replied. <The oil on their skin burns, and if it gets into a dragon in any way, we get extremely sick, violently, including uncontrolled release of our fire, before it will eventually paralyze us.>

That news paled me considerably. If anyone learned about that….

But this wasn’t the problem we had at the moment. I focused back on Thorn. “So, what is it that is so important you’re risking your life and our secret to tell me?” I asked. Thorn ruffled her wings worriedly. <A few of the visiting dragons have disappeared without a trace. We think the Shadow Lord found our field.>

My blood froze. I glanced back in the direction of the group, knowing I was about to make a big commotion. “Get back to the field then and get everyone you can on guard. I’ll gather the riders and be there as soon as I can,” I said. Thorn nodded and took off, soaring over the trees, as I raced back through the woods to the clearing, startling everyone and ending their conversation with Hiccup very abruptly.

“And where did you disappear to?” Ingavar asked irritatedly. “There’s a dragon out there and ye simply run off into the woods like ye’ve got a death wish.” I waved him off absentmindedly and focused on the two teens. “Never mind about me. Astrid, Hiccup, we need to go. Now.” The two raised their eyebrows, but the look on my face kept any questions from needing to be voiced.

“Now hold on a minute,” Ingavar started again, “we’re in the middle of the forest on a hunt, with a Nadder just having run off to who knows where in the woods, and yer sayin’ you three need te leave?” I nodded and started toward the forest again. “Well, I say ye can’t!” Ingavar snapped. “We’re finishing this hunt and then going back te the village where it’s safe! No more disappearing into nowhere, secrets being kept, and all these other problems you’re bringing out here!” I snorted in reply, turning again to the woods. “Make me.” I turned to the two teens. “Come on, we need to go. And don’t forget the bow.”

We raced into the woods, leaving behind a concerned Stoick and a boiling Ingavar, who continued to shout after us. “Hawken! Ye will be paying fer your traitorous actions! No one disobeys a high chief!”

Hiccup looked at me as we slowed down a little ways away. “They’re going to be finding out really soon, aren’t they?” he asked. I shrugged. “Probably. Now, I need to know, where will the rest of the teens probably be?” “Likely the Great Hall, they’ll probably still be having breakfast,” Astrid replied. “What exactly happened?”

“Thorn said she thinks the Shadow Lord may have found the meadow. So in other words, we have zilch time to spare. Now get on.” I morphed to Stealth dragon again, and after Hiccup and Astrid got themselves situated, I disappeared from sight and we shot off toward the village.

We landed as close to the hall as we could, and after I changed back we raced up the steps and inside. Just as Astrid predicted, they were inside, the twins laughing as they ran away from an adult they’d just spilled porridge on. I sighed.

“Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, Snotlout! We need to go!”

They all immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at us. “I thought you were on a hunt,” Snotlout wondered. “We were,” I quipped, “but something’s come up, something important. Come on, we need to go.”

Luckily, they followed without any more questions, and when we reached the forest again, I stopped and turned to them. “The Shadow Lord may have found the meadow. We’re going to check on the dragons,” I explained. Fishlegs started fidgeting. “Let’s go then,” he said. “I’m starting to get worried about Meatlug.”

The name stopped me. “I thought you named her-“ I began, but he interrupted me. “Yeah, but I like the other name you had mentioned better,” he explained sheepishly. “Plus, it’s easier to say. But that’s not important right now, let’s go!” I nodded in agreement and spread my arms out, watching as they quickly scaled over and elongated, morphing into massive wings capable of carrying a number of people. There were only a couple of dragons large enough to carry that many people and still stay relatively unnoticed, and the best one was the Timberjack.

I turned my neck to see the group just standing there, and raised an eyebrow in exasperation. “Well?” They all blinked, and then starting with Fishlegs they stepped forward. I bent down so that they could climb on, and once everyone was seated and I was sure they wouldn’t end up falling off mid-flight, I focused forward, spread my wings, and took off.

SCHWANG!

I glanced back at the falling pieces of treetop, cut clean off by the razor’s edge of my wings. “Oops.” At least it provided a bit of a lighter mood, getting Hiccup and Astrid to snicker. As we flew away from the village, I stayed low to the treetops, but as soon as I was sure we were far enough away, I powered upward, gathering altitude to make it over the mountain crest. I still find it hard to believe just how tall they were for such a small (relatively) island.

The flight took barely a half hour at the speed I was moving, and we quickly reached the large meadow that the dragons were in. As we crested the trees, I was instantly set on edge as I watched some of the dragons below cringe and start flying off, until they realized I was not a danger. As I landed, we were swarmed by dragons of all kinds, and Tuffnut was tackled off by the Terrors. As he hit the ground herd, he yelped. “Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!” Everyone managed to giggle a little bit as they dismounted and I changed to a half-form, keeping grayish green wings and a tail.

Thorn showed up first out of the teen’s dragons, nudging Astrid, followed by Fireworm and Sidewinder (who, I should mention now, was soon renamed that unfortunate nickname Barfbelch by the twins). They all greeted their respective riders, with Sidewinder ending up having to shove the twins apart as they broke into another fight. There was one important dragon missing, however.

“Where’s Meatlug?” Fishlegs asked. Everyone glanced around a little lost. <She was here before I left,> Thorn said. I sighed. “Alright, everyone spread out. Let’s find the missing Gronckle.” I shifted to Night Fury and Hiccup hopped on, since Toothless wasn’t there at the moment. Fishlegs got onto Fireworm with Snotlout, reluctantly, and the other three on their dragons, and we set off across the meadow.

<Meatlug! Are you here?> I yelled out. Hiccup mirrored my call, and I heard the others calling out similar things. Hiccup and I flew along the eastern edge of the meadow, and found nothing. Ten minutes passed, and everyone gathered at one corner of the meadow, near the base of the mountains. Fishlegs looked about ready to cry. “We’ve searched the entire meadow,” Astrid said as Thorn landed, “and there’s no sign of her.” I sighed. “Okay, she may have wandered off into the woods or something. Everyone to the treeline, we’ll fly in a row around the perimeter of the meadow, and see-“

<HEELLPPP!!>

The roar echoed down from the nearby mountains, and we all spun to see a ball of fire rise from the forest skirting the base of the rocks. “That’s her!” I yelled and launched into the air, ignoring Hiccup’s yelp of surprise as he latched tighter onto me. “Everyone move!” The rest of the gang thrust themselves into the air behind me and we raced toward where the fireball had appeared.

<SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!!>

<We’re coming!> I yelled back, and my blood ran cold as almost immediately another roar permeated the air. <Not you again!>

That roar chilled me to the bone, but I powered on. We sped up to a small opening at the base of a cliff, where we all spotted Meatlug cowering against the rock face. The Shadow Lord, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be seen now. Meatlug looked up at us, fear in her eyes. <Please get me out of here! I can’t fly!> she whimpered. That’s when I noticed her left wing: it had been torn nearly down the middle, and the support bone was fractured under the skin. She also already had a large slash across her side and something that made me falter in surprise: an acid burn spot on her back.

“Circle up around her!” Hiccup yelled, seeing the same danger I had, and I dove down, flaring my wings and spinning to face away from Meatlug, nearly throwing Hiccup off my back in the process. The others dove down and followed my example. Fishlegs jumped off Fireworm and rushed to his dragon.

“Hiccup, get off and ready your bow,” I hissed. “What? Why?” he asked in surprise. “Because I am going to need to be able to move in any possible way, and I can’t risk throwing you off me mid fight. Go help Fishlegs if you can too.” He nodded and slid off, and I kept my eyes peeled.

<There!> Fireworm yelled, twisting her neck and spewing flames. They missed, barely, and the now visible Shadow Lord opened his mouth to fire. I could see it wasn’t flames either.

Thinking fast, I covered my tailfin with scales to match the other black dragon, and flared it right in front of Fireworm’s face. Just as I feared, a spray of blackish liquid shot out, splattering against my tail. As it dripped off to the ground, the grass underneath began to bubble and fizz. I flicked my tail, sending the rest of the acid back at the Shadow Lord, and Barfbelch snaked forward, spewing a cloud of gas. At the same time, Thorn blasted it, causing an explosion of flames, roiling out in a broiling cloud.

All of this for naught, however. The Shadow Lord burst out of the cloud, and soared over our heads. <I won’t be gone long!> he yelled. <I don’t care what I have to do, my business here is far from over, and I will drive you from this place somehow, successor of the Mystique!> He faded from view, shimmering into the sky and disappearing. In frustration and as a last try to ground him again, I blasted a stream of fire at him. It missed, of course, and he disappeared completely from sight, a final roar of hatred echoing across the forest and foothills. Once even my own attuned hearing couldn’t pick out anything from him, I relaxed slightly and turned over to Hiccup and Fishlegs, who were using strips of their tunics to bandage the acid burn and cut on Meatlug. Her wing, though, would require more attention than we could give at the moment.

“We’re going to have to take her to the healer,” Hiccup remarked. “You know that’s too risky,” I said. “We can fly her to the cove, and then take Sigrid there, but we can’t take her into the village.” Fishlegs nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we can’t risk her any more than we have. Let’s go!” I held up a hand. “First we need to alert the other dragons, make sure they know what’s up. Then we can go,” I explained. Then I turned to Hiccup. “Ride with Astrid until we get to the cove. I need to make sure I can carry Meatlug back safely.” Hiccup nodded, walking over and jumping up behind Astrid on Thorn. I doubled my size and walked over to Meatlug. Standing on hind legs, I carefully picked her up and pushed up into the air. The rest of the gang followed suit.

We quickly reached the meadow again, and I called out for the dragons to gather. Once they had, I broke the news.

<The Shadow Lord has been confirmed to be here,> I yelled, <so everyone needs to be on alert and stay here in the meadow, as close together a possible.> <And what good would that do us?> one Nadder asked. <We can’t see him anyway!> I nodded and continued. <Yes, but you can still hear, and smell, and he can’t attack while still in stealth mode, though I don’t know why. If you stay in groups it should deter him from attacking, and with enough force you should be able to drive him off. Now, just remember, everyone stay here! That is of utmost importance!>

I turned and lifted off again, this time headed for the mountains, and tried to ignore the murmurs of concern I was leaving behind.

We flew at top speed, cresting the range after about 15 minutes, and reaching the cove about the same length of time afterward. Once there, the teens sent the rest of their dragons back to the meadow together, and I laid Meatlug down on the grass. Toothless noticed us and glided down from the nearby tree he often hid in. <What happened?> he asked, noticing Meatlug’s condition immediately, and bristling at the anticipated answer.

<The Shadow Lord found the meadow sometime over the night, and he found Meatlug today,> I explained hurriedly. Not surprisingly, Toothless hissed in anger and looked about ready to take off. Hiccup walked up to him and gave him a rub on the neck. “Can you watch her for us bud?” he asked. “We need to go and get the healer.” Toothless stood there immobile for a moment, but then sighed and nodded briskly. I changed back to Timberjack again, and everyone climbed on as Toothless stood guard over the Gronckle. Once the teens were secure, I powered toward the village.

We raced through the streets, on our way to the healer’s house (luckily enough I knew the location well; Astrid’s mother is the main healer). Astrid stepped inside and found her, and after about five minutes, Sigrid appeared with a large basket of the supplies she would need, like bandages, herbs, and a sort of plaster for a cast. “There’s no time to lose,” she said, hustling right past us. “A broken wing is a time sensitive thing. Let’s move out.”

As we moved back through the village toward the forest, though, a large, much-less-than-pleased individual showed up.

“You are in a lot o’ trouble, Hawken,” Ingavar growled as he appeared from around the corner. Wolfblood and Bitwolf were behind him, smirking. “Ye never disobey the orders of a chief, especially when yer on a dragon hunt, of all things!” He grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around to face him, searching me.

“No weapons today?” he asked incredulously. I shook my head. I had forgotten them that morning, not thinking I would really need them and leaving my house before the thought popped into mind. “Well, then, that makes things just that much easier,” Ingavar growled, and motioned toward the father and son pair. They produced a thick rope, which they used to bind my hands together. They did so, I nodded to Hiccup and then in the direction of the forest. He nodded back in understanding. He, Astrid, and Sigrid disappeared in that direction.

“The people in this village seem te follow you more than they do a proper chief, more than Stoick even,” Ingavar said. “That’s nae how the way Viking society should work, and I think a little rehabilitation should do the trick, and get yer mind out of the clouds you’ve got it stuck in.” With that, he began pushing me down the street in the direction of the Training Arena.

A we passed by, the villagers of Berk cringed at the sight of me compliantly walking at spearpoint, hands bound like a common criminal. They knew something was up and that a mistake was being made. Ingavar’s crew, however, just pointed and laughed.

When we reached the ring, Wolfblood moved ahead and opened the gate, and then one of the cages inside, on the opposite side of the ring.

“This seems more appropriate for you than a comfy cell,” Ingavar chuckled. “Now get in!” As I passed by, Wolfblood whispered, “Now you won’t be in the way of the rest of our plans.” I sent him a withering green-eyed glare, but didn’t say anything.

Once I was inside, Ingavar snorted. “Ye might as well wipe that smirk off yer face,” he growled. “Ye’ll be stayin’ in here fer few days.” He nodded to Wolfblood and Bitwolf, who pushed the doors closed, and outside I heard the lock slide in place. As soon as they were fully closed, I snorted in amusement and incinerated the ropes.

I focused on the door, where I heard the final log lock slam down. I transformed to Shadow, and melted into the creature’s namesake. Peering from the shadows outside in the cracks of the doors, I watched and waited until the trio was nearly across to the other side of the ring and to the exit gate, and then manipulated the shadows to flip the locking mechanism.

CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK!!

As I materialized back inside the cell, I heard the three outside yelp in surprise.

“What was that?!” “The gate’s open!” “I swear I locked it!”

At this point I was human again, save for being fully covered in black scales. I filled the entire chamber with the cloudy Zippleback fuel, and waited. Once I was sure at least Wolfblood and Ingavar were heading back across the ring, I ignited the cloud.

KABOOOOMMMMM!!!

The gas ignited, releasing a whirlwind of flames and blasting the doors open. I heard Ingavar scream in surprise, as he was apparently closest. I laughed quietly and began walking out of the cell, still hidden by the thick smoke.

“Wolfblood, are ye sure there wasn’t a dragon in there before we threw the boy in?” Ingavar asked irritatedly. “No sir, it was empty!” “Then what, pray tell, is that?!”

I had begun to emerge from the smoke that was now clearing, and made the scales fade away as I became visible to the Vikings, so that I still looked like a normal teen. Ingavar stood there, looking a little shell-shocked. Bitwolf and Wolfblood were standing off to the side, frozen too, but more in anger than shock.

Ingavar finally managed to speak after a few seconds. “What on earth are you?” he asked. I shrugged, preparing an idea in my head on how to make my disappearance the most dramatic. As my skin began to secrete a small amount of the liquid fuel that Nightmares use, I set a withering glare at Ingavar. “I am someone who knows far more about this place than any of you could ever hope to know,” I began. “I am someone who has placed himself in charge of helping keep the peace on this island, which you seem to continuously threaten. I am that which cannot be contained, and I can be the essence of wild dreams and miracles….”

I paused for a second, for dramatic effect. “….or I can be something from the very depths of your worst nightmares. Really, it’s your choice which way I go.”

I placed a single spark of fire on the edge of my lips, instantly and seemingly out of nowhere setting my entire form ablaze. As Ingavar and Wolfblood, who had been moving to the side in hopes of knocking me out while I was monologuing, stumbled backward from both another round of surprise and from the heat, I breathed out a cloud of unique flames, ones that billowed out and acted like a burning mist, burning just brightly enough to obscure me from vision and quickly swirling outward to fill the ring, flowing out through the bars above and forcing the Vikings to evacuate to the gate. Using the cover I had made, I changed to a stealth dragon again and shot upward through the bars, only barely trailing the will-o-the-wisp flames behind me. I glanced downward for a second, spotting the bewildered looks on the men I’d just duped, and soared off across the village toward the cove.

I forgot how long it tends to take to reach the cove on foot. Long before I made it there, I spotted Hiccup, Astrid, and Sigrid below in the forest, on the trail. I dove down and flared my wings, dropping the cloak and letting myself become visible again. As I glided down, changing to a Nightmare in the process, Sigrid noticed me first and started slightly, but then calmed down as I landed in front of the trio and knelt down. “Get on,” I said quickly. “You three are too slow.”

We reached the cove in about two minutes flat after that. Sigrid jumped off before I had even touched the ground and raced over to Meatlug. “This is a pretty bad injury here,” she said, looking over Meatlug’s wing. “What happened?”

“She was attacked by the Shadow Lord,” Hiccup explained. I saw Sigrid bite her lip in concern. “Before these past few days I thought he was only a myth,” she said quietly, unwrapping the gauze bandages she had. “Astrid, get the plaster ready.”

The next hour and a half was spent applying the plaster cast to Meatlug’s wing, and the herbal salves to the other wounds. By then it was reaching late afternoon, almost evening, and there was little else that could be done at the moment other than wait. Meatlug simply needed rest. She looked up at Sigrid as the healer finished wrapping the last of the bandages. <Will I be able to fly again?> she asked. I translated the question, and Sigrid frowned. “Only time will tell on that one,” she replied after a moment, “but if you don’t move it a lot, and rest enough, I don’t see why not. We’re lucky these things don’t necessarily mean death to a dragon anymore.”

As Sigrid packed up the unused supplies and dirtied equipment, I turned to Hiccup. “I’ll find you tomorrow,” I said. “We’re going to have a whole lot to deal with.” He nodded. I turned to leave, facing the portal and spreading my wings, but then I stopped.

“Oh, and Toothless?” He looked up from where he was watching Meatlug. <Hmm?> “Stay near Hiccup. The Shadow Lord knows I’ll likely be near a village, and that will probably be the first place he’ll go if that thing he said about driving me out has any credibility. Plus, we cheated him out of a meal; he’ll be looking for revenge.”

He looked at Meatlug. <What about her?> he asked. I pointed to the thick stand of trees in the corner of the cove. “Meatlug, stay in there, don’t move unless one of us shows up and calls for you. I’ll get the Terrors to keep an eye out for you.” She nodded, and waddled over to take a nap. At the same time, I bade farewell to the three Vikings and the Night Fury, and as they headed back to the village, after checking in with the Terrors I headed home for the night.


	7. Back in the Village...

CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK!

Ingavar turned to see the lock mechanism on the door releasing. “What was that?!” Bitwolf asked. “The gate’s open!” Ingavar replied, shooting a glare a Wolfblood, who held up his hands. “I swear I locked it!” he exclaimed. Ingavar shook his head in annoyance and marched toward the door to make sure someone did the job properly No matter how small or well-tied-up the prisoner was, he wasn’t going to be taking any chances. The boy had already proven he was both dangerous and disruptive, Ingavar was not going to just let him walk back out.

The only problem was, he never made it to the door.

KABOOOMMMM!!!

The cell doors blasted open, forcing Ingavar and Wolfblood back again to the center of the ring and filling the open air with thick smoke as the flames died back. Ingavar grabbed his axe and looked again with suspicion at Wolfblood. “Wolfblood, are ye sure there wasn’t a dragon in there before we threw the boy in?” The man shook his head in response. “No sir, it was empty!” Ingavar glanced back at the smoke cloud, and saw movement within. He gestured to the figure that was emerging. “Then what, pray tell, is that?!” he spat.

The figure was still hidden partially by the smoke, but at this point, it no longer looked draconic, save for the fact that it looked black. As the smoke dissipated and the figure continued to move forward toward them, the colors faded out until, standing before the Vikings was the boy, with an unreadable look on his face. Perplexed, Ingavar shook his head and stared for a moment. “What on earth are you?” he asked out of shock and anger.

Hawken leveled a glare directly at Ingavar and shrugged, his appearance starting to glisten as if he were doused with water. “I am someone who knows far more about this place than any of you could ever hope to know,” he spoke. “I am someone who has placed himself in charge of helping keep the peace on this island, which you seem to continuously threaten. I am that which cannot be contained, and I can be the essence of wild dreams and miracles….”

Here, the teen paused for a minute, and smiled mysteriously. “….or I can be something from the very depths of your worst nightmares. Really, it’s your choice which way I go.”

What happened next, Ingavar would certainly never forget. The boy ignited, every inch of his body -hair, skin, and clothes- burst into flames, heating up the air around him and causing Ingavar and Wolfblood to step back. The flames poured outward then into the air, like a burning vapor, swirling menacingly around the boy. Ingavar gathered his wits and backed up to the gate, the other two following his example. They watched as the vaporous flames filled the arena, seeming to completely engulf the teen, and none of them saw the spike of flames suddenly rise above the top of the ring and dissipate.

It took nearly 5 minutes before the last of the burning mist to dissipate, allowing Ingvar to send Bitwolf and his father in to check the ring and the cells. One by one, they searched the cages, and one by one they found them empty. “There’s nothing here, sir,” Wolfblood reported. He’s just… disappeared.” Ingavar gave a huff and shook his head. “Nae, no one can just disappear like that. Do ye think that he just committed suicide, te be removed from punishment?”

That didn’t sound right either, though. “But why would he do that?” Wolfblood asked. “He would have been released in a couple of days.” Bitwolf coughed from by the wall of the arena. “That wouldn’t explain those strange flames,” he spoke up. “A burning person wouldn’t cause that.” Wolfblood nodded. “No, but I think there may be one thing that could burn like that.” He walked over to Ingavar. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I never thought it was the right time,” he said.

Ingavar gave another glare to Wolfblood. “Then ye’d better tell me quickly or you’ll get the same treatment as I had planned for that boy for withholding valuable information from your superior!” he snapped. Wolfblood straightened in response. “Well, I didn’t tell you because, uh, I didn’t really believe the story I was told until now.” He gestured toward Bitwolf. “My son told me yesterday that it was that boy who scared off the Shadow Lord, not the weapon Hiccup built.”

Ingavar raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Hiccup had the weapon with him today, and it seemed te work just fine on that Nadder we ran into. How would a simple sword-swinging boy be able te scare off a dragon like the Shadow Lord?” Wolfblood shrugged toward the center of the ring. “Well, you saw what he was capable of there. He had some sort of ability to manipulate fire, thanks to the secret my son discovered: Hawken could turn into a dragon.”

There was a moment of silence, then Ingavar burst out laughing. “Such sorcery does not exist! There’s no way he could do that!” he guffawed. Bitwolf stepped away from the wall of the arena and moved toward the chief. “I watched him do it,” he said. “No more than a Timberjack, but from what I saw he could become one. We never burned the dragons we killed, we don’t know if that’s what would happen to them.” Ingavar nodded then looked at the Viking boy. “Well, even if yer story is true, it does nae matter now. No Timberjack I’ve ever seen would be small enough to disappear unnoticed, and if that is how dragons burn,” he gestured to the empty arena, and the intact bars above them, “then it would appear that he’s not around anymore te worry about.”

Ingavar started walking back toward the gate. “In any case, we have much work te do. This village is practically falling apart, and we need to straighten it out before we leave anywhere.” A he headed out, followed by the Wolf-pair, he continued. “This village certainly needs a turnaround, and Stoick has grown weak already. The villagers followed someone who was nae even a Viking, let alone a proper chief. We need te change that.”

* * *

Hiccup, Astrid, and Sigrid hurried home, followed in the shadows of the trees by Toothless. It was already getting dark, so the Night Fury was hard to see, but that didn’t make Hiccup feel any better. “Y’know,” he began, glancing back at the coal-colored reptile following them, “I really hope Hawken knows what he’s doing, because having Toothless back around the village with the visitors is making me really nervous.” Astrid chuckled slightly. “Oh, don’t get yourself worked up. Toothless knows how to keep himself hidden.” She reassured. “Heck, until you managed to take him down those years ago, no one had even seen one before.” Hiccup sighed. “Yeah, thanks for reminding me about that,” he drawled. “But, still, he cares more about saving me than watching out for his own skin, and if you remember, that’s what gets him in trouble sometimes.” He glanced at Astrid. “Remember those first few months after we ended the war? When we got the visit from the Hysterics, about the trade agreements and the new treaty?” Astrid laughed. “Hard not to,” she replied. “Kind of makes me wonder if that guy still has spit in his vest.”

They both cracked up at the memory. Sigrid looked at them, then smiled and shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder about you,” she muttered mischievously, making the two teen blush slightly in response.

The mood immediately darkened the second they reached the outskirts of the village. Astrid glanced around down the streets. “Where is everyone?” she asked worriedly. The streets were completely bare, save the occasional rat running around in the shadows. The only lights came from within a few houses, very little sound could be heard. “This is making me nervous,” Hiccup said quietly. “Come on, we need to find my dad.”

The trio raced through the streets, reaching the village square in only a couple of minutes, and ran up the steps to the chief’s house. Hiccup went in first, pushing the heavy door open and exclaiming, “Dad! Where are….?”

The words died immediately on his tongue as he took in the view awaiting them in the house. Ingavar, Wolfblood, and Bitwolf were all standing around the table, and Stoick was sitting at the far end, looking very angry and completely worn out at the same time. They all turned to the door as the newcomers came in.

“It’s about time ye showed up,” Ingavar growled. Hiccup ignored him and looked to his father. “What’s going on?” he asked urgently. “The streets are completely empty and it’s only just past nightfall!” Stoick nodded tiredly, the gestured his head angrily at Ingavar. “Ask him! He’s the one responsible.” Hiccup turned to face the foreign chief.

“This village has been falling into disarray,” Ingavar replied, ignoring Stoick’s tone. “Everyone has been put under house arrest for the night and until further notice, until I set things straight.” Hiccup raised an eyebrow. “And what do you mean by ‘set things straight’?” he practically yelled. “The village is more prosperous now than it ever has been!” Ingavar nodded. “Oh, I’m not changin’ the trade or anyone’s work ethic,” he replied. “The problem here is the leadership in Berk.” He turned and looked at Stoick. “Yer father has let the control of his villagers slip from his hands, nearly every aspect of it, and until he can demonstrate proper skills, instead of letting them fall to people who don’t know how or shouldn’t be holding the power, I will be taking over as chief of the village.

Astrid exploded next. “Gee, have you ever heard of delegation?!” she snapped. “You can’t just waltz in and take over everything! Stoick has been keeping this tribe going for over 20 years, and we’ve never had a weak moment, never lost a fight, and you think you can just walk in and say that he’s been doing a bad job because he’s allowed someone else who is perfectly qualified for the job to help deal with the protection of the island?! And you think he needs a ‘reeducation’ because we don’t work exactly how you do?”

Ingavar waited patiently until Astrid finished with her rant, then spoke up. “I have been leading my tribe fer over 40 years, have fought against hundreds of kinds of dragons, beasts, and people, personally seen te the teaching of each and every one of my council members and warriors, and I have found during my short stay here that Stoick seems te have less control of nearly every aspect of this village that that boy did, not just the protection of this land.” He walked up to Astrid and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look straight at him. “Ye should remember too, miss, that I am held in much higher regard and power than your chief, and by our laws have every right te remove him from power, even temporarily, if I see fit. As well it is that I am doing so, since even his own son followed that boy when a high chief strictly forbade all of you to leave.” He turned and leveled his glare at Hiccup.

Sigrid, who up until then had stood passively off to the side watching from the door, cleared her throat and stepped forward into the room. “If I may, Chief Ingavar, are you implying that our ranking in power is based in part on how highly regarded we are?” she asked. Ingavar nodded in reply. “That is an aspect of it, yes. Those who show the most bravery and courage to defend their tribes, those who have proven the most their worth in battle are rendered the highest positions.” Sigrid nodded. “Then forgive me for saying this,” she continued, “and I could still be wrong, but if that is part of how levels of power work for us, then that teen Hawken may very well have more power over the tribes at this point than even you.”

Ingavar was silent for a minute, his face bearing no emotion, before bursting out in laughter. “Ha! He hasn’t even lived for half as long as I have led my tribe!” he guffawed. “How could he possibly be ranked higher than even the chief of that pathetic Clubswinger tribe?!” He backed up and sat down in a nearby chair, and returned to being serious. “But it doesn’t really matter,” he said lowly. “Unless he can magically vaporize at will, I watched him burn himself into nonexistence just a few hours ago as I was preparing for his punishment.”

Hiccup, Astrid, and Stoick stole quick glances at each other. They all knew what had really transpired, especially the former two as they had seen him return home, but the three shared a silent agreement: let Ingavar think the boy was dead, as the less he knew, the better, for now.

“Now, past that, we shall return to the true matter at hand. Until you have been properly re-trained, Stoick, I will be assuming the position of chief in this village.” He turned to Sigrid. “Return te yer home. I need te have a quick talk with these two,” he gestured to Hiccup and Astrid. Sigrid glanced at her daughter, who nodded, then she turned and left, closing the door behind her.

Ingavar turned to the two teens, a look of anger and disappointment on his face. “If there is one thing that does not happen in our society, it is disobeying the order of a high chief,” he scolded. “After I distinctly told ye not to leave, ye followed that boy te do who-knows-what. There was a dragon very nearby, which means ye could have all very well ended up hurt or worse, and where there’s one, there are often many more!”

Stoick fought to keep down a laugh at this. If only Ingavar knew: there were many more than one, and not one of them a danger! Ingavar looked at Astrid. “I’ve heard that you’re especially renowned in the village fer your fightin’ abilities, especially fer your age group, but there are more dangers than just dragons in the forest.” Astrid snorted. “Yeah, I know. I’ve run into them before. Didn’t give me that much of an issue.” Ingavar gave her a deadpan look. “There’s always a first time, lass.” He then turned to Hiccup. “And you are supposed te be the next chief!” he said, voice rising. “A chief is supposed te lead, not blindly follow, and he is also supposed te listen as much as he leads! Yer supposed te set a good example with yer behavior, not be the bad one!”

Here Ingavar paused in his rant and thought for a moment. “In fact, ye’ll be getting a new training along with yer father. And while we’re at it,” he looked Hiccup up and down with disappointment, “we’ll also work on getting’ some muscle on those bones of yers.” Hiccup groaned in reply. “Look, I’ve already tried that,” he quipped, “and why does everyone think I need to bulk up anyway?”

“Because you’re a twig,” Bitwolf snarked from behind Ingavar. “Shut up, Wolf,” Astrid growled, and Bitwolf threw her a condescending smirk. The look she returned, however, wiped it off.

“Astrid,” Ingavar said. She turned to face him again. “You will go straight to yer house, and ye will be escorted by Bitwolf te make sure ye don’t try anything.” She locked eyes with Hiccup for a minute, an unvoiced groan transmitted between the two of them. “When ye get there,” Ingavar continued, “ye will stay there until Wolfblood comes te retrieve you fer training tomorrow. If ye disobey, ye’ll be locked in a cell fer punishment.” Ingavar then looked at Hiccup. “And you will go to yer room now, and the same rules apply!”

Stoick began to voice his disagreement of someone else telling his son what to do in his own house, but Ingavar silenced him. “I will also have you restrained if ye go against my orders as well, Stoick,” he snapped.

Hiccup quietly disappeared up the stairs, and Astrid ducked out the door, followed as ordered by Bitwolf. Once she had crossed the commons, however, she stopped, grabbed her axe, and whirled on the other teen.

“Watch what you say about Hiccup,” she hissed lowly. “I’m dangerous enough alone, but if I were you I also wouldn’t forget about who Hiccup’s other best friends are.” Bitwolf shrugged. “Well, one of them was,” he drawled nonchalantly. Astrid stood up taller. “Excuse me?” she asked, forgetting for a moment about the act she needed to play. “Oh, come on, Astrid, you heard what Ingavar said,” Bitwolf retorted. “Hawken vaporized himself. Other than the Shadow Lord, no dragon we know can just disappear on a whim, and we’ve never seen flames like that before. I mean, even if he had other tricks up his sleeve, even a Terrible Terror could have been spotted flying away. He’s gone.”

Astrid tried to paint a look of pained denial on her face, and she hoped it was convincing enough. It was dark out, which helped. “I-I don’t believe that happened,” she said, her voice cracking artificially. “Ingavar is just trying to break us!” Bitwolf bought it. “Suit yourself,” he said, “but when that nerd doesn’t show up again, don’t start crying then.” “I’m not going to cry.”

“You know it’s true,” Bitwolf continued, “but that’s not important right now. Back to some matters at hand,” he said, grinning mischievously, and glanced back at Hiccup’s house. “Why exactly do you like that wimp of an heir anyway? I mean really, why are you dating that shrimp?” He looked longingly and dangerously at Astrid. “Come on, teach me to ride a dragon,” he continued, advancing toward her, “and I could be five times as good as him easy. Control the dragon, and you control the power, am I right? That’s what you’re looking for: Hiccup rides the Night Fury, you like the power he has doing that.”

Bitwolf stepped forward, now only inches from Astrid, who already looked like she was going to explode. “Why not dump the shrimp and go for someone who actually can look out for you?” he asked, smirking again. “All it would take could be something as simple as a kiss.” He leaned in to touch her lips.

Instead of a kiss, though, what he got in response was a big, wet loogie. “I don’t need looking after,” Astrid spat, “and if I did, he could do so ten times better than you! And by the way, that-!” Astrid swung and punched him in the gut, sending him gasping to the ground, “-was for insulting Hiccup! And this-!” this time she swung the broad side of her axe into his legs, “-is for even thinking about daring to try and kiss me!” She gave another punch for good measure, and turned to run for her house. However, a sudden swipe of the flat of another axe by Bitwolf brought her to the dirt as well. “You’ll pay for that, you wench!” he practically screamed, and lunged for her.

Astrid rolled out of the way, and tried to leap to her feet, but Bitwolf rammed into her and knocked her flat on her back. When she looked up, she saw him, rage burning in his eyes, reach behind his back and grab a length of chain and raise it above his head. “I hope this teaches you a lesson about hitting your betters,” he hissed, and swung the chain at her face.

How unfortunate for Bitwolf, that someone else had seen the whole thing.

TTSSSCCHHHEEEWWWWW!! BOOMMMM!!

A ball of fire rocketed out from the shadows at the edge of the commons, nailing the whip at its center and melting it to pieces while simultaneously creating a shock wave that threw Bitwolf backward a good five feet.

“What the-!” he began, coughing the dust away, and then looked up in shock. Toothless dropped down next to Astrid, baring his teeth at Bitwolf, then jerked his head from Astrid to the saddle. She got the message and climbed up, but not before Ingavar and Wolfblood, who had heard the commotion, came charging out of the chief’s house.

“Go, go go!” Astrid yelled., and Toothless took off, leaping into the night and speeding to her house. Ingavar raced in that direction for a moment, raising his axe. “Astrid! Ye better get back here and explain yerself!!” he yelled.

“No need,” Bitwolf growled, spitting blood from a cracked lip. “There’s something else you should know about Berk.” Ingavar raised an eyebrow. “And what is this other secret yer hidin’ from me?” he asked lowly. Bitwolf glanced at his father, who nodded, and smiled. “Oh, nothing much. It’s just that they’ve befriended the dragons.”

That was all that was needed to tip the high chief over the edge. “WHAT??!!” He whirled around and marched back into Stoick’s house, grabbing the “former” chief by the cloak and hoisting him up. “Ye’ve actually befriended the devils?!” he exclaimed. “Have ye truly gone completely mad?!” Stoick’ eyes widened in surprise for a moment, then he caught the look Bitwolf had and they changed to a look of understanding and irritation.

“They’re not devils,” he muttered, “though once upon a time I said so myself many times over.” He looked straight at Ingavar. “We’ve all been wrong, all this time,” he said almost inaudibly, it was at such a dangerously low tone. “When we discov-“ Ingavar cut him off. “What have they done to ye?” he asked. “Dragons steal our food, they destroy homes, ships, and other buildings, they terrorize and kill our people, and yet ye act like they should be yer best friends?”

Stoick yanked himself out of Ingavar’s grip and glared at him, standing tall. “They only attack if they’re in their right mind, if they are under something else’s control or if something is wrong with them,” he explained. “My own son proved that to me when he took down-“ “Your son?!” Ingavar interrupted again. Stoick’s mouth slammed shut, realizing he had said something that could potentially be a big mistake. Sure enough, Ingavar turned for the stairs about ready to storm up, but he had no reason to. Hiccup was already halfway down, arms folded.

“Go ahead, tell them,” he said, his own tone tinged with the promise of danger. “It’s really about time they knew.” Stoick looked at his son, shocked. “Ye can’t be serious!” he exclaimed. “Look how he’s reacted already!” he gestured to Ingavar, who was well beyond boiling point. Hiccup nodded anyway. “It’s not like keeping secrets will help at this point.”

Stoick sighed. “Alright,” he relented, and looked to the other chief. “It was Hiccup who first befriended the dragons. He shot down one, and did something none of the rest of us would ever have done: he let it go. It was Hiccup who turned the village, even me of all people, from our hard-set ideas about how dragons were supposed to be.” He waited to see if Ingavar would say anything before he continued. “Up until that point, we all thought dragons were monsters, evil creatures who were just here to destroy everything. But no, that’s not how it was. You know the story of the Red Death, how Hiccup took it down. That creature controlled them, forcing the dragons te bring food to the Red Death’s nest, and it didn’t care if we were in the way, or even became the offerings ourselves.” He gestured to Hiccup. “Hiccup and his dragon brought down the Red Death, releasing at least the dragons around here from that spell, from the creature’s control.”

Stoick stood up straight again, facing down Ingavar. “Had ye come but a couple years ago, Ingavar’ he continued, “ye would’ve found me also set on killing every single one of those reptiles that dared show its face to me. And Hiccup had been shunned basically from the tribe.” He gestured out the door. “What ye see out there, the unburnt buildings, the prosperous trade, everything, a great deal of it came from our ending the fight and allying with the dragons. They’ve changed everything around her, our entire way of life. They’re not evil, and if for once you’d release your own hard-headed ways of thinking, I’m sure that you’d be able-“

“ENOUGH!” Ingavar yelled finally. Stoick stepped back slightly, surprised. “The beasts seem te have more control over you all than the Death over them, if I could believe even a word you say,” he growled. “I will not be led to believe such falsehoods and outright lies! I can see right through all of this, they’re making you protect them!” He whirled toward Hiccup. “Where are all of your dragons?” he growled. “I know the Night Fury the girl has I won’t have the time to track, but the rest-“ “The Night Fury is my friend,” Hiccup shot back, “and if you’re planning on having me take you to go and kill the rest of our dragons, then you’d be better off just starting by killing me.”

Ingavar grabbed his axe, and then grabbed Hiccup by the arm. “Ye will tell me or I may grant that wish,” he bellowed. “Or at the very least ye’ll be wearing a metal foot fer the rest of yer life fer siding with those devils and hiding them from a high chief!”

Stoick rushed forward immediately, trying to wrench the axe or his son from Ingavar’s hands, but the other man held firm and threw him off. Stoick knew at that point fighting wasn’t going to work, and so, broken, resorted to the last thing he could think of.

“Put my son down,” he spat, “and I’ll take you to them.” Hiccup shot his father an agonized stare, but that melted away when he caught the look in Stoick’s eyes. He would buy them some time, maybe enough to get help, but that would only be enough if Hiccup could get away soon.

Ingavar released Hiccup slowly, and looked to Bitwolf, who grinned. “Tie him up in his room,” Ingavar commanded, much to their chagrin, and looked at Hiccup. “Just to make sure ye don’t go trying anything,” he elaborated. Bitwolf grabbed Hiccup and a rope, and headed upstairs. When he returned, Ingavar faced Stoick, grabbed him, and left the house. Wolfblood, however, stayed behind for a moment, going up the stairs to find Hiccup.

“What do you want?” the teen snapped as Wolfblood appeared. “To know your secret,” Wolfblood replied, lacing his voice with faux curiosity and understanding. “We’re not all like Ingavar, you know.” Hiccup glanced away. “Yeah, but Hawken already warned me about you. You and your son aren’t trustworthy for such things.” “We were working on a precept that you just proved wrong,” Wolfblood said. “I have a chance to stop Ingavar, but only if I can get a dragon to trust me.”

Hiccup sighed, and decided it couldn’t really get any worse. “They just need to know they can trust you,” he said. “They often respond to a food gift, or gentle interaction. Let them make the move to let you get close, or ride.” Wolfblood nodded, then looked sympathetically at the boy. “I can’t untie you, or Ingavar will find out and have my head, but I will be back later.”

With that, he turned and quietly disappeared down the stairs. Hiccup sat back on his bed, where he was tied, not knowing he had in fact been duped, and he had given Wolfblood what he was looking for in order to forge a dangerous alliance.

Meanwhile, Toothless had gotten Astrid to her house unseen. As she got off, she turned and looked Toothless in the eye. “Bring Hawken here immediately tomorrow morning,” she said, “and help him gather the gang together. We’re gonna have a lot of trouble to deal with.” Toothless nodded and disappeared into the night sky, just before guards from Ingavar’s tribe came around the corner to investigate. Astrid, too, ducked inside before she could be caught or reprimanded, not realizing things were in fact far, far worse than she thought.

* * *

Late that night, a single small boat slipped from the docks of Berk’s harbor, headed for the cave-riddled cliffs on the eastern edge of the island. Wolfblood was travelling there to find the Shadow Lord dragon, in hopes of making an alliance that would give him every edge he thought he’d need to win. As the rest of the Vikings would find out the next day too, everything went exactly as he planned.


	8. Rising Problems

THUD! THUD! THUD!

I awoke with a start to the sound of something large banging against the sliding glass door. As quickly as I could, I got dressed and ran out to the kitchen as whoever it was continued to thud against the glass.

When I saw who it was, the alarm bells definitely went off. Shoving the doors open, I stepped out onto the patio. “Toothless, what’s going on?” I asked quietly. “Where are Hiccup and the rest? You know how dangerous it is for you to be here on your own.” Toothless nodded and glanced around again, making sure no one was watching. Luckily, no one was, if you don’t count the dogs.

<Couldn’t be helped,> he replied. <No one who knows about the portal is able to go anywhere at the moment.>

That froze my veins in an instant. I hurried down the steps of the deck and across the lawn, asking as I went, “What has Ingavar done now?” <He put the whole village under house arrest,> Toothless answered. <I also overheard him say something about removing Stoick temporarily as chief.> We burst through the portal, and I immediately donned a look to match the Fury next to me. <Anything else I need to know?> I asked. Toothless nodded as we took off, piercing the air. <I didn’t catch everything, I was outside, obviously, but Ingavar said that Stoick wasn’t fit to lead, since everyone has come to listen to you too.> I sighed. <Of course.> <Also, before I came to get you this morning, I saw him taking Stoick, Gobber, and a bunch of his crew out of the bay on some of the ships.> He glanced over at me. <Also, not sure if this is a good thing or not, but Ingavar thinks you’re dead now.>

I smirked, but still poured on the speed. <It might very well help. Someone coming back from the dead tends to make people stop and think for a moment. I also think I know where they’re going on the ships,> I growled. <This is not going to be a fun day. Are all of the teens still at home?> Toothless nodded, and I frowned, turning to face the direction of Berk.

We reached the village in about two minutes flat. As we dove down toward Hiccup’s home, I spotted Ingavar’s crew members outside, most of them guarding the houses. A number were standing firmly in front of the house we were aiming for. As my wings folded in, I inadvertently created the whistling scream so famous for the dragon I was.

“Night Fury! Get down!!”

Well, can’t say it isn’t a good method for getting everyone’s attention. Of course we had no intention of blowing up Hiccup’s house, as both he and Stoick would be very much less than pleased about that. As we approached, Toothless and I flared our wings simultaneously, slowing us down to drop lightly, and silently, in front of the five guards at the door. When they realized no explosions were going off, they slowly looked up, and aimed their weapons directly at us. Pricking my ears up, I heard more heading our way from behind us.

“Ingavar mentioned something about one Night Fury showing up,” one of the guards whispered, “but not two.” “Yeah, I know,” another replied, “but I’m sure we can handle ‘em. Though that one on the right is starting te give me the creeps.” He gestured at me as I fixed him with a withering glare. <Hawken, I think the guards behind us have a net,> Toothless whispered. I nodded. <Let them use it. Not like it’ll be much good for long. Just walk toward the door.>

We did just that, and just as expected, the net Toothless had spotted suddenly came dropping down on us, followed by about 10 men grabbing the corners and holding them down, and the five guards attempting to jump on me and Toothless and weigh us down. Toothless gave me an incredulous look. <How does this help us?> he asked frantically. I grinned. <Intimidation,> I replied.

As the men attempted to force us to the ground, a new image formed in my mind. My tail began changing shape, losing the fins of a typical Night Fury, and growing something far more sinister.

“Hey! One o’ the devils is changin’ over here!” one of the guards yelled. “Whadaya mean, changing?” another asked, the one attempting to flatten Toothless’ head (without much success, I should add). “Is it changin’ color or something?” “Nae, it’s growing a blade on its tail!”

_Bingo,_ I thought, and put it into action. I whipped my tail up, twisting the stinger-shaped scythe so that it sliced straight through the mesh designed to hold rambunctious dragons, and at the same time, the sudden force threw one of the men off in the process. I turned my tail forward and opened the netting up along my left side and up to my head, creating all the room we needed to slip out. Once done, I looked to Toothless. <Roll, now!>

We spun at the same time, me out of the net and out from under the rest of the men, and Toothless threw the guards still on top of him, though he stayed under the net. I reformed my tail into the fins again, but my wings morphed, gaining Timberjack blades along their edges as I advanced on the men still ignorant enough to try and keep holding the net down.

“Let him up, or you’ll be finding a new meaning for the word ‘flying’,” I growled lowly. The reaction was immediate, every single one of the men jerking in surprise and letting the net drop from their hands. I’ll give them some credit, they did move away from my friend. <All that for a show of strength?> Toothless remarked as he shook the net off and then burnt it. I nodded. <Does wonders for reducing morale,> I replied. Then, so everyone could hear me, I said, “Go get Hiccup.”

The guards clustered in front of the door, apparently still not getting the hint. “I don’t know what you are,” one of them muttered, pointing his mace at me, “but we have strict orders from Ingavar to keep-“ “I have news for all of you,” I snapped, letting myself melt slowly back to my normal body. “Ingavar is old-fashioned and putting himself in a heap of danger because of it. He thought he watched me die yesterday, and is probably on his way to getting his butt removed from his position at the very least, possibly even removed from this earth.” I advanced on the guard, mostly human again, but still with a pair of jet black wings flared out. “What I say right now goes for the safety of this entire village, so unless you want to deal with a shape-shifting, ticked off dragon boy who is in the mood for a little less ignorance, I would suggest you get the hell out of the way!”

I don’t curse often, so it was a good thing they obliged and left the path to the door open. Toothless quickly disappeared from sight inside the house, and I faced the guards again. At this point I let the wings fade away, and one of the guard’s eyes widened. “Say, aren’t you that-that-“ he began. I chuckled, cutting him off slightly. “The strange boy with clothes that don’t fit this village, the one who Ingavar claims has control of the villagers, the one all of you know nothing about?” The Viking nodded. “Well, uh, y-I guess so,” he stuttered. I shrugged and leaned against the house. “Well, then, yes, that’s who I am.”

Another Viking stepped forward slightly. “But Ingavar said you’d roasted yerself alive yesterday!” he pointed out. I snorted. “Like I said earlier, he _thought_ he saw the last of me.” I smirked again. “So, poor him, about to find me ‘back from the dead’ and just as fine as ever. He’s walking into a trap as we speak, so if you know what’s good for you, you’d quit hanging around here and go tell the rest of your tribe to let the Hooligans out of their houses already!”

Toothless reappeared, with Hiccup on the saddle, rubbing the raw skin around his wrists. The guards backed up again at the sight of the heir riding the most mysterious dragon they knew of. Hiccup glanced at me and smiled slightly. “Good to see you’re alright,” he said, “though a little sooner would have been nice.” “Even a Night Fury can’t be two places at once,” I replied. He nodded. “Have you gone to get the others yet?” he asked. I shook my head and looked at the guards, who were still standing there looking dumbfounded. “Well, what are you waiting for?” I asked dangerously. “Go let everyone out!” They nodded quickly and scrambled toward the village, not wanting to tick the three of us off any further. I glanced at Hiccup. “I’m going to get Astrid,” he said.

Within 15 minutes, all of the teens were gathered together, and after another 20, most of Ingavar’s men had been given a good, well-rounded Hawken-and-Hiccup style reeducation. Those that were still stubborn and didn’t comply got to rethink their decisions in the village jail.

“Hiccup, what exactly did Ingavar say he was going to do?” I asked as we left the Great Hall where we’d done the “education.” “He didn’t,” Hiccup replied. “But I know he’s going after our dragons, and quite possibly the Shadow Lord at the same time.” I sighed and turned to the rest of the teens, morphing to Timberjack again and bending down. Astrid was already on Toothless with Hiccup, but the other four were still a lot of weight. “Everyone get on,” I said. “We need to go get the dragons.” Fishlegs looked at me pointedly. “What about me though?” he asked. “Meatlug still has the injured wing!” “We’ll deal with that when we get there,” I replied. “Come on, we don’t have any time to waste. Let’s go!”

* * *

Ingavar was feeling a mixed number of emotions. He was finally on his way to kill some dragons, and he had a pretty good idea of where the Shadow Lord was now, too, but he still had to deal with the “dysfunctional” chief and his village. On top of all that, Wolfblood had disappeared sometime the night before, and was still missing the whole morning! He turned to Stoick.

“So, the brainwashing gone out o’ yer head yet?” he asked. “I already told you, every word I’ve said is the truth!” Stoick muttered back. “There’s no brainwashing going on at all.” Gobber hobbled up next to his friend. “And why exactly did ye bring the both of us with ye?” he asked. “I mean, ye need Stoick te find where yer plannin’ on going, but there’s no need for me.” Ingavar turned to face him. “Te make sure neither o’ ye try anything,” he replied sourly. “I know yer feelings about what I’m doing too, blacksmith. Plus, if we happen te find the Shadow Lord along the way, ye can help capture and kill it te prove ye allegiance to the Viking traditions.”

Stoick glared at the other chief. “Ye’ll be finding out soon enough our ‘Viking Ways’ are wrong, and most o’ the other tribes have already changed now too.” Ingavar pursed his lips and was about to reply, before a sudden commotion from the front of the boat interrupted him.

A crew member approached the chief. “Sir, I think ye might want te come and see this,” he said urgently, confusion and concern masked in his voice. “What is it?” Ingavar snapped back, moving toward the bow. The crewman shrugged. “That’s the problem sir,” he replied meekly, “we, uh, we have nae the faintest clue.” The whole group moved toward the bow, Gobber and Stoick prodded forward by a couple of guards.

What greeted them was something perfectly baffling. In the distance, they could see a small speck, seemingly floating in the air. Even from a distance, dragons are recognizable, but this certainly didn’t look like a dragon. Whatever it was, it alarmed Ingavar by rapidly approaching them. “What is that?” he muttered. Stoick peered forward, used to watching for incoming flying objects, but at first, he could not identify it. As the speck came closer though, his eyes widened in shock.

“It-it’s a man!” he exclaimed. Gobber glanced at him funnily. “But he’s jus’ floating in air! How can a human fly without being held up by anything?” Stoick shrugged in confusion. “I don’t know, but that’s what he’s doing,” he said, gesturing at the “floating person.” Two possibilities were forming in his mind, one of them very good for him and Gobber, and the other, very, very bad for everyone.

The worse side of the coin presented itself. As the man came closer, within easy viewing range of the entire ship, gasps of shock and surprise erupted everywhere. Ingavar was the most surprised. “Wolfblood!” he yelled. “What in Thor’s name is going on here?” Wolfblood smiled, uncrossing his arms and seeming to levitate over the ship. “I’m changing a few things around here,” he yelled down. Ingavar ignored this and yelled back up, “How in Helheim are ye able to do that?”

Wolfblood laughed in reply. “Remember your petty argument you had last night?” “What about it?” Ingavar growled. “Stoick’s right to an extent,” Wolfblood replied. “Dragons are certainly wonderful as allies. They’re stronger, larger, more adaptable and flexible than we are. And, of course, they breathe fire, a wonderful power!”

Ingavar was fuming again. “So you’ve abandoned me too, have ye?” he spat. “Ye’ve become a traitor te the Viking ways, like the rest of these Hooligans!” “The Viking ways are far past due for change,” Wolfblood spat back, still smirking. “Like I said, dragons may be good allies, but most of them are far better as slaves or work animals, to do my bidding. Control them, and I can control empires! Plus,” he grinned evilly, “with my one new true ally, we can make sure they stay under control as well.” “And just WHO is this new ally of yours?” Ingavar practically screamed.

Wolfblood chuckled and patted the air in front of him. The air began to shimmer and shift, a solid shape taking form under him. A massive body and jet black, pumping wings appeared, spread wide above the crew. Legs and fins formed, and the horrid head appeared last. There was no mistaking the monster that had appeared out of nothing: Wolfblood was riding none other than the Shadow Lord, and both of them seemed perfectly fine with dealing with the other too.

“Now, without further ado, my new ally and I will gladly take charge of this island starting with this ship,” Wolfblood announced. “Oh, and Ingavar, I made sure to tell him how much you were looking forward to killing him. I have to say, Shadow Lords have quite the vindictive streak!” One maniacal laugh later, he gestured upward, and the Shadow Lord shot upward, flipped over, and turned back, taking aim at the ship, right at the spot where Ingavar now stood.

“MOOOVVEEE!!!” Stoick yelled, barreling into Ingavar and shoving the both of them against the far railing, just as a blinding bluish blast streamed toward the ship, ripping through the deck and exploding on impact. The crew watched in horror as internal explosions rattled the ship beneath the deck, and two massive fissures cracked open and raced out from the blast point. Almost immediately, the ship began to sink.

The crew didn’t even have time to think before another stream of fire collided with the side of the ship. The resulting explosion lifted it onto its side, and catapulted everyone into the freezing water. Ingavar quickly burst to the surface spluttering and spitting, watching in shock as his ship sank in pieces from the one-dragon attack. He looked around to see only remnants of his vessel, now used as floatation devices for those who could reach them. Nearby, one large piece found Stoick and Gobber holding onto it. As Ingavar turned to swim toward the two, Stoick pointed behind him and yelled, “LOOK OUT INGAVAR!!”

Ingavar turned to see the Shadow Lord diving through the air, powering his way directly toward him, Wolfblood sitting on his neck with a satisfied smile on his face. The chief didn’t have any way to immediately defend himself, and he knew perfectly well the dragon wouldn’t have an issue diving through the water after him if he submerged either. There was no way out, this was the end for him, he knew. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see his death hit.

A sudden, high-pitched whistling sound erupted through the air. Ingavar opened his eyes again, knowing such a sound did not belong to the monster barreling toward him. Indeed, as he looked up again, he did so just in time to see a speeding white blur slam into the Shadow Lord, sending him and Wolfblood careening off course to skip across the ocean surface. The white object turned to face him, and Ingavar nearly forgot to keep swimming as he recognized the shape of a Fury, though a color and shape he’d never seen before, and piercing eyes with a look he thought he had seen the last of only the day before.


	9. Chapter 9

When we arrived at the meadow we set up Fishlegs with another volunteer Gronckle, and then immediately everyone took off for the island’s eastern shore. From what the teens told me, that’s the direction Ingavar had taken, and unfortunately that was also the location we believed the Shadow Lord had taken up residence: the caves dotting the cliffs. As it was, time was already nearing noon, so we had to make haste if we were to meet Ingavar near the cliffs. In less than two minutes, we reached the ocean, and raced down the shoreline.

We were already late, as further down the coast it was all too clear to see the Shadow Lord, hovering over the ships. “You guys catch up when you can,” I said, bolting forward. “I need to distract the dragon.”

I powered upward as my skin changed color from black to white, my ever-more streamlined shape allowing me to reach a great height in very little time. When I reached the appropriate altitude, however, I glanced downward, and cried out in dismay. The ships were no more, broken into pieces and burning. I watched, almost frozen for a second, as the Shadow Lord let out another blast and took out the final floating halves, ripping through them and throwing the pieces of the ship in two directions, scattering Vikings hither and thither.

I shook myself alert again, aiming downward and diving. The wind whipped past me as I gained speed, the characteristic Fury scream building pitch and echoing out across the waves below. I continued to gain speed even then, but was a long ways up when I spotted Ingavar, and watched as the Shadow Lord spotted him too. The dragon dove down, intent on apparently grabbing the chief right out of the water. I could see Ingavar was a sitting duck too, nothing to defend himself with and nowhere to go. I powered forward, tucking my wings even closer to my body, the wind screaming now at an almost painful pitch. Closer, closer, closer….. I braced myself for impact.

BAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

I slammed into the Shadow Lord, jarring every bone in my body and gaining a powerful headache to boot, and knocked him into the water. I glanced at Ingavar, narrowing my eyes both in relief and disappointment, and then turned to face the black dragon again. Only then did I notice the Viking that was riding still on his back.

“Wolfblood!” I hissed. “I should have known you’d end up here anyway, despite everything I tried.” As the shadow Lord righted himself again, Wolfblood sputtered in surprise. “H-Hawken?! B-But I thought you were dead!” I smiled. “Oh, yes, what a bitter surprise for you. Think again.” I turned my head slightly and managed to spot Hiccup and Toothless almost here, and looked back at the unsightly pair in front of me. “Looks like you two will be busy for a while, so if you’ll excuse me-“

The Shadow Lord had a different plan. Breaking free of the water, he lunged at me, spewing flames in a wide arc. He had the advantage of surprise, but unfortunately for him, Wind Furies are much smaller and a whole level faster than him. I easily dodged to the side, before hearing another whistling scream rise up. Wolfblood looked to his left and alerted his ride, both of them spotting Hiccup and Toothless closing in, fast.

Toothless fired, forcing the Shadow Lord to pull up hard to avoid the resulting explosion as the fireball hit the ocean. The rest of the gang joined us not long after, and the angered Shadow Lord, spurred on by his rider, followed them upward into the open air.

“Come on, slowpoke!” Tuffnut jeered, laughing as he , Ruffnut, and Barfbelch swerved out of the way of the speeding black dragon. “My grandmother could fly faster than you!” Ruff added. <You’ll pay for your insolence!> the Shadow Lord roared, speeding after them again.

While they were distracted, I dove down, changing into a large sea dragon and diving into the water. Racing over to Ingavar, who was once again on his way toward the wood planks Stoick and Gobber were on, I was still plenty amused as he yelped in surprise and fear as I swam up next to him. “Get on,” I ordered. Another splutter of shock. “W-What are you?!” he asked, holding a quivering finger up at me. I smiled. “The same teen you thought vaporized yesterday,” I replied lightly.

Ingavar froze in shock. Unfortunately, this also made him sink, so he quickly regained his senses and spluttered to the surface, coughing up water and staring at me again. “But that’s-that’s impossible!” he stammered. “Ye should nae be able te do that!” I shook my head. “It’s not an everyday thing, I’ll give you that, but we can’t just sit here arguing. Now quit drowning and get on, I have to get everyone else out of the water too!”

Reluctantly, he climbed onto my neck, and I swam over and picked up Stoick and Gobber. “It’s about time ye showed up,” Gobber quipped. “I’ve had enough of a bath here to last me a year!” I laughed. “And you needed it too, Gobber. Always such a pleasant sense of humor you have.”

It took 3 trips around to get all 50 or so Vikings out of the water and deposit them on the beach. Once they were all “safe,” I changed back to human for a moment and walked up to stand before Ingavar. “Believe me now?” I asked. He nodded only slightly, looking at me with a bit more sober expression. “Good,” I said. “Now, if you please, feel free to look around and find anything you might be able to use to defend yourselves.” With that, I turned to look up at the fight hundreds of feet above our heads, and I glanced at the forming mist out over the ocean. I nodded in grim satisfaction, and launched myself, in Night Fury form, back up into the air.

I shot straight up, past the Shadow Lord, smacking Wolfblood in the face on the way by. <You again!> the dragon roared. <It’s time I finished this.> He began to dissolve away, blending into the air around him. Once he was fully invisible, he shot up past me, and turned around to fire at me. I easily dodged, because the dragon had forgotten one very key issue.

Wolfblood was still sitting on his neck. “I can’t turn invisible, dragon!” he pointed out. “We’re going to need a different approach!” <You’re testing my patience, human,> the dragon growled, reappearing, and Wolfblood whispered something to him. A glint in his eyes told me something bad was definitely about to happen.

Suddenly, the dragon arrowed upward, looping around Snotlout and Fireworm, and before the pair could even react, a stream of blackish acid blasted from the Shadow Lord’s mouth, too fast to tack. It splattered across Fireworm’s back, and some of it hit Snotlout as well.

Their screams of pain reverberated through the sky, and Fireworm’s flight faltered, sending the pair spinning toward the ground. <The water! Head for the water!> I yelled, unable to do anything else at the moment but aim for the Shadow Lord’s head. Before I could even fire a single blast, however, they had already steered away, Wolfblood leading him toward Astrid.

“Astrid, look out!” I screamed. She glanced to her side, and Thorn bolted upward, out of the direct path of the monster. I raced in their direction, readying a blast. This time, I caught them before they could change plans.

SCHHHEEEWWW!! BAMMM!!

The fireball exploded, knocking Wolfblood to one side, and sending the Shadow Lord careening through the air. The two quickly righted themselves, and turned again toward me, barreling right at my midsection. I shot upward, avoiding the stream of fire that followed, but forgot about another weapon the dragon had at his disposal.

BAMM!! “AAAHHHH!!”

The pair of blades that tipped his tail swung upward, slamming into me and slicing into the base of my tail. The pain raced up my spine, and I felt blood begin to pour down my tail. Thinking fast, I changed form, hoping that would repair the damage. It didn’t work, the gash was still there, and it was beginning to affect my ability to fly. “Land, Hawken!” Hiccup yelled, racing past and directing Toothless to fire at the Shadow Lord. I nodded, and dove to the ground, flaring my wings and touching down. As soon as I did, I changed human.

Another bad idea. Dragons are designed to deal with great amounts of pain, what with their naturally dangerous lifestyle. Humans are not. Plus, the cut didn’t disappear; it was almost the same size as it was when I was in Night Fury form, straight across the small of my back. Stoick came rushing up. “Someone get me a cloth!” he yelled. Suddenly, the pain hit me hard, and I keeled forward. Stoick put his hand in front of me, holding me up as I clutched my midsection, and grabbed the torn tunic that was handed to him. It wasn’t all that clean, but it would have to do, and he pressed it against the gash to stem the bleeding. The sting of the touch made me cry out, but I tried to hold still as much as possible. Stoick laid me on the ground slowly, and turned me slightly on my side, tying the cloth tightly around me to slow the loss of blood.

“Now you need to stay down,” he urged. “If ye move it’ll only make it worse, and we can’t have ye injuring yerself any further right now. So don’t try anything spect-“

“HAWKEN! DAD! LOOK OUT!!!!”

Immediately we all looked up as Hiccup screamed down at us. Panic set in almost immediately. The Shadow Lord was aiming directly for Stoick and I, and there was no way we could move out of the way fast enough. As I watched in fear, he readied to fire, the glow building up in his throat. I knew I could survive the blast, no problem, but I also knew the blast would still manage to catch Stoick, Gobber, Ingavar, and the dozen or so other Vikings nearby. This was it. I raised my hand out of reflex, as if it could stop the attack somehow and shield us. “Oh, Lord, help us now!” I whispered, closing my eyes and scaling myself over. The Shadow Lord fired, the scream of the flames racing directly at us.

SSCCHHHEEEEWWWWWW!!!!

FWWWWOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!

A sudden burst of energy raced through me, making my hair stand on end, and I felt a small vibration of an impact, but no sudden explosion, no heat like I should have. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up along my outstretched hand, to see what happened. My next breath caught in my throat, and I choked on it in shock.

From the tips of my fingers, there was a vibrating line of light, arcing upward and spreading out high above us like a shimmering, semi-transparent blanket, rippling outward like a wave. On the other side, the last dying traces of the Shadow Lord’s fiery blast could be seen snaking across the barrier, fading like they were never there.

Shocked, I let my hand drop, cutting off the beam emanating from it, and watched the barrier above us slowly fade from view. I glanced around to find everyone staring straight at me. Then, I stared with a dumbfounded look at my palm.

“What?” spluttered Stoick.

“Was?” from Gobber.

“THAT?!” finished Ingavar.

I shook my head absentmindedly. “I…. I don’t… have the slightest clue,” I half-whispered.

Nearby, another Viking spoke up. “That was nae fire,” he said. “That.....that was magic.”

That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I shook my head, glancing up to see Wolfblood and the Shadow Lord also both staring down at me with wide eyes as well. Unfortunately for them, Hiccup is a lot more rationally minded and no stranger to odd happenings, so he hadn’t been greatly distracted by whatever I had just done. He and Toothless came rocketing down, blasting the Shadow Lord in the side, jerking them back alert and throwing them to the side, reigniting the aerial dogfight. This left me and the Vikings to figure out what on earth had just transpired.

“What in the world did you just do, Hawken?” Stoick asked again. I looked straight at him. “I just said I have no idea,” I said, still feeling floored. “All I know is I asked God to help me, and lo and behold I look up to see myself generating a force field!” “A what?” Gobber queried. “A force field,” I repeated. “It’s a barrier of pure energy, it’s designed to block any form of attack. But that doesn’t tell me anything about how I…..”

The words died on my tongue as a memory hit me like a sledgehammer.

_Arthur spread his hands out. “He’s an anomaly. No human should be able to even survive that amount of neurological capacity! A-and I don’t have a clue where the energy to run that amount of power is coming from!” He waved his hands at me again. “A human body cannot physically generate the power it would take for that amount of connection. His power, his abilities are not stemming from him, they’re coming from another source.” He scratched his head. “The only guess I have is from when I learned about metaphysics, the so-called dark matter and dark energy in the universe.” “The what?” Malin groused. I snorted. “I thought you were a scientist too,” I shot at him. He ignored me and looked back at the blonde, who stuttered again for a moment. “We-well, supposedly most of our universe is composed of sources of matter and energy we can’t see or touch at the moment,” he said. “If my guess is correct, something has connected that boy to that source of power.”_

I fell backward as the answer took my strength away again. “Whit is it?” Gobber asked, helping me to stand again as a bout of pain erupted as well from the gash on my back. “When-when I got kidnapped,” I said, “a month or so ago, the scientist there said he found energy levels running through me that were way above any conceivable limit,” I said, turning to glance at him, then the two chiefs. “There’s nothing physical, no DNA or secret chemical that lets me change, God connected me to something not even we in my home know about yet.” I waved Gobber off, letting him know I could stand on my own again. “There are… stories, plenty of them, that dragons are not just another species of animal, that some have, uh, abilities that are supernatural. Some are said to be able to harness metaphysical forces.” I glanced at the Viking who had spoken up earlier. “It’s not magic, that comes from dark, evil sources, no, this is….this is….” I looked at my hands, unable to come up with a proper word.

Stoick nodded, starting to understand while Ingavar still looked baffled. “Ye’ve been given a true power,” he said. I nodded, and he glanced up above us. Snotlout and Fireworm had washed the acid off and were back in the fight, but even from here I could see their burns, and they still needed help.

“If ye can control such forces,” Ingavar muttered, then gestured to my back, “then do ye think ye have a little more in ye than you think? Can ye heal yourself?” I followed his look to the cloth wrapped around me, now almost soaked through. I shrugged. “There’s really only one way to find out.”

* * *

Hiccup watched, unable to do anything quickly enough as the Shadow Lord slashed Hawken right at the base of his tail. He’d seen injuries like that before on dragons, and knew that his friend wouldn’t be able to fly for long. “Land Hawken!” he yelled out, and after his friend nodded and headed down toward the beach, he and Toothless shot toward the Shadow Lord. They arced upward, flipping over to come down on the dragon’s other side. “Aim for the base of the wing,” Hiccup said quietly. Toothless nodded and built up fuel for a blast, but before he could fire, Wolfblood glanced back and spotted them, then steered his mount upward, making Toothless swallow the fuel again and shoot harmlessly by. He spun around, closing after the duo. Barfbelch and the twins snaked in below, the Zippleback’s two heads shooting upward on either side of the dragon. A cloud of gas erupted out, followed by a shot of sparks, and before Wolfblood or his ride could move, it exploded, surrounding the two in flames and blowing them off course.

The Shadow Lord righted himself and Wolfblood frantically attempted to put out the flames now eating away at his vest, then whispered something to the dragon. He nodded and blasted upward. Astrid, who was high up above waiting for an opening, turned Thorn to try and intercept the pair, but before she could the black dragon suddenly reverse course again, and dove like a missile toward the ground below. She followed their course, and realized what the pair’s aim was: directly below were the Vikings on the beach. More importantly, straight in the Shadow Lord’s line of fire were Stoick, Ingavar, Gobber, and Hawken, who was still being patched up. Apparently, she realized, he didn’t heal when he changed shapes. Hiccup, who was below, caught her gaze and followed her line of sight. Almost simultaneously, both of them cried out and dove down after the Shadow Lord.   
“HAWKEN! DAD!! LOOK OUT!!”

Hiccup was the only one heard by the Vikings below, but they all knew it was in vain. Even Toothless wasn’t fast enough to reach the Shadow Lord at this point before he fired, and Hawken was out of the count for the moment. While he could survive the blast (though he’d get a nasty burn on the open wound), the rest of the men would die. Astrid and Hiccup both felt agony rise up in them as they watched the Shadow Lord slow only just enough to aim precisely for a large blast.

A split second before the dragon fired, though, Hiccup spotted something in Hawken’s defensively outstretched hand begin to glow. As he watched, the shadow Lord fired, and the glow suddenly brightened and exploded upward, rippling outward in a shimmering cloak over the ground and the people standing below.

The Shadow Lord’s fireball hit and exploded on the barrier, the field seemingly absorbing the fire, and shielding the Vikings underneath from the blast. Every dragon in the air flared their wings and hovered in place, shocked. As the fire dissipated and the shield began to fade away, Astrid glanced at Hiccup. “What on earth just happened?” she asked. Hiccup shrugged somewhat absentmindedly, then shook his head. “I don’t know, but right now, we’ve got bigger worries, and an opening.” He urged Toothless downward, toward the still-frozen Shadow Lord and Wolfblood, and curved to the side, Toothless firing a blast right into the Shadow Lord’s abdomen.

The blast knocked the dragon to the side, almost knocking the stunned Viking on top off the dragon, and it angered the both of them and brought their focus back up to the Night Fury and his rider. “Come on, Wolfblood!” Hiccup yelled. “We’re not done yet!” “You little rat!” Wolfblood screeched back and spurring his mount to give chase. Toothless rocketed upward, bringing the following pair right past Astrid and Thorn. “Now!” Astrid yelled, and Thorn twisted and whipped her tail out, firing a rain of long, poisoned tail spikes at the target.

Amazingly, and against all odds, one found its mark. At the juncture between wing and body, one spike managed to hit a soft patch between scales, and sunk in deep. The Shadow Lord screeched in pain, and Wolfblood looked back as the dragon began to falter. “Hold still!” He yelled, and bent back, carefully grabbing the barb and pulling it out.

The sudden agony as the object was removed made the dragon stall and drop for a moment, but as soon as it was out, the Shadow Lord looked at Thorn with vengeance. Before he could attack, however, a fireball rocketed by, exploding in midair. Wolfblood glanced upward, and tapped the Shadow Lord’s head. “We need to get rid of that twig and his Fury,” he said. “The rest will be a piece of cake.” The Shadow Lord frowned for a moment, then glanced at Thorn and grinned. <I’ll be back for you in a moment,> he growled. Then, he blasted upward after Hiccup and Toothless.

Wolfblood leaned to one side as they slowly shortened the distance, pulling out a short sword and getting ready to slash at Hiccup as the Shadow Lord prepared to simultaneously slash Toothless’ wings. Before they managed to reach the pair, though, a screaming whistle sounded. Wolfblood turned to look just in time to see a speeding white blur slam into him, throwing him straight off the Shadow Lord’s back and grabbing him tight.

* * *

I pulled Wolfblood off the Shadow Lord with ease, as they were both distracted, and dove toward the ground again. “What are you,” Wolfblood hissed, “that you can change between dragons and come back from crippling injuries without a scratch left behind?!” I smiled lightly. “Apparently, far more than I ever actually thought possible.” I neared the Viking group gathered below and slowed, unceremoniously dropping Wolfblood down to them. As he was grabbed and tied up, Wolfblood glared at me. “You won’t last forever, Hawken! I’m not there to help any more, but he’ll make sure of that himself!” I snorted. “Then I’m sure these guys will make sure you don’t last any longer than I do either,” I growled back.

Turning back to the sky, I changed to Night Fury again, but this time I wasn’t taking any stupid chances. My scales hardened, coming to equal even those of the Shadow Lord’s rock-hard scales. Then I propelled upward, ready for business.

<Hey, Royal Pain!> I jeered. The Shadow Lord turned, forgetting about Snotlout who was flying jerkily away in front of him. <What did you call me?> he hissed. <Let me make sure you hear it loud and clear: a royal pain in the butt!> I taunted again, keeping his attention on me just long enough for both Fireworm and Barfbelch to come in behind him.

KABBBOOOOMMMM!!! <THAT’S IT!!!>

The dragon burst out of the cloud after Barfbelch, swinging his tail and releasing a spray of acid. Both attacks missed, and Toothless raced upward from below, firing into his underbelly. He turned to grab them, only to get spiked by Thorn, and shot by me. <He’s vulnerable between the scales!> Thorn yelled to me. I nodded.

<This has been dragging on to long!> I yelled. <Everyone, head for the trees!> We all turned to the forest, and Hiccup raced by, yelling as he passed, “I hope you know what you’re doing! He’s got a lot of firepower, and this is the dry season around here too!” I grinned. “That’s actually what I’m counting on!” I replied. Hiccup gave me a quizzical look, but urged Toothless downward anyway, disappearing into the forest. I, meanwhile, spun to face the Shadow Lord.

<If I take you out first, it’s just a matter of time for the rest,> he hissed. <There’s just one problem, > I drawled back. <You’ll have to catch me first.> I back-flipped and disappeared into the trees below, leaving the other dragon to stumble over his next step.

<Coward!> he yelled. <You can’t hide forever, you’ll have to face me sooner or later!> He flared his wings as I watched, unseen, from below, and just as I planned, he readied to fire. As he did so, the first blast cutting into the trees and igniting anything dry, I changed to a favored form, and dissolved into the shadows of the trees I was hiding within.

The fireball exploded on the forest floor, flames rolling outward and igniting a circle of wildfire. I flowed through the shadows toward the flames, extending my tail out and solidifying it, flaring the tailfins out in stark contrast with the bright fire. <Down here! Come and get me, I’ll be waiting!> I yelled, taunting. The Shadow Lord roared and dove down, flaring his wings and fanning the flames as he landed, making them jump into the crowns of the trees. He landed directly in the center of the ring of flames, where he assumed I couldn’t sneak up on him, and looked around for me, not knowing he was in my plain view.

<Alright, where are you! Show yourself and die like a real dragon!> I smiled, and decided to make my move. I slipped my head forward and fired a stream of black flames into the already raging fire. The effect was instantaneous, black and purple flames engulfing the normal orange and yellow ones, replacing the burning light with pulsating darkness. The other dragon jerked in surprise and looked around, his yellow eyes widening as the black fire absorbed the light. I entered the ring of fire, and began to materialize from the wall of flames, head and wings appearing first and flaring out, looking all the more menacing as I appeared to grow from the burning wall.

<This ought to be interesting,> I drawled, garnering the Shadow Lord’s attention, making him jump again and face me. <One Shadow against another Shadow, let’s find out who wins, shall we?> I grinned, showing off a row of perfectly white, razor sharp teeth.

At this point, an etch of fear finally wormed its way onto the Shadow Lord’s expression as he began to back up. It would have been rather comical, watching a 40 foot dragon back away clumsily from one not even half his size. But of course that only assumed the watcher had no clue what I had become.

<What are you?> he spat. <Not even the Mystique had such powers, how do you control such unnatural things?> I advanced on him, shadowy form hovering instead of walking over the forest floor. <That is for me to know, and you to find out,> I said, faint amusement tinting my voice.

I began to dissolve again, my fading act causing more anxiety to seep into the other dragon’s expression. I kept myself visible, but only as an apparition, connected once again to the shadows and shade fire that surrounded the two of us. The Shadow Lord finally had enough, deciding this was something he did not have the strength to take on. He bolted, shooting upward toward the sky…..

…only to slam headfirst into a ceiling of solid black fire I had raised over us, and fall, hard, to the ground again. <What?> he blurted dizzily as he stumbled to his feet. <Looks like I win already, and with so little effort,> I hissed. I raised my nonexistent forelimbs and brought ropes of black fire shooting outward, aiming for the Shadow Lord. They wrapped around him like snakes, pinning his wings and limbs to his sides, and raised him up, floating him off the ground. I flowed forward, appearing in the air in front of his snout. <Now you are the one to get a taste of what you have given to probably countless people and dragons alike,> I growled, <including a few of my close, personal friends.>

The Shadow Lord could only widen his eyes in fear for a split second before I blasted upward, pulling the dragon with me, propelled upward on a swirling vortex of anthracite flames. I raised the dragon up above my head with the shadowy ropes, and threw him, still tied up, toward the nearby beach. He landed unceremoniously, carving a trench through the sand and bouncing across the ground. Then, I glanced down and pulled through the shadows again, sucking every ember of the dark fire up to me, at once extinguishing any remaining chance of burning down the island, and giving my presentation a far more intimidating appearance: a black, razor-edged dragon with red eyes, flying through the air surrounded by a swirling mass of coal-colored flames.

I glanced behind me to spot the rest of the gang coming up out of the trees and following me, now having realized I’d taken care of things. I glided toward the beach, landing just a few feet away from the still-bound Shadow Lord. I snapped my claws together nonchalantly, and the “ropes’ binding him and the fire still swirling over my head dissipated into thin air. The Shadow Lord attempted to stand before me, but shrieked in agony and fell to the sand again. That’s when I spotted the damage: a shattered front leg, and a broken wing. He looked up at me as I swiftly reverted to human form, unable to do anything as I approached. The Vikings who had scattered when he fell nearby gathered again, watching as the teens landed nearby and Hiccup and Toothless stepped forward with me.

<So…. I have lost,> the Shadow Lord hissed quietly. <What will you do with me now?> I stood there for a moment, thinking, then spoke out loud so everyone could hear. “That depends. I could heal you and release you, but considering the history you’ve recently left us with, I’m sure no one else here would be happy about that, and I’m also rather certain you’d just go back to your killing sprees, wiping out members of both my brethren races.” I knelt down in front of him and glared directly into his eyes. “I could also kill you, and get rid of the whole problem altogether-“ this response earned shocked gasps from the teens and Stoick, who knew my feelings on death sentences, “-but I don’t feel like I can kill unless I absolutely have to.”

I glanced around at all the Vikings and dragons gathered around me, some of them still with less-than-pleased looks on their faces. “I could also leave you at the mercy of my friends here, but I seriously doubt they’ll be quite as forgiving as I tend to be toward people,” I continued, “or dragons, for that matter.” I looked to Hiccup, who I could see was just as worried about what to do as I was. “The last option would be to just leave you here, at the mercy of the elements and any other creature that may come along,” I said lowly. “I know wolves, bears, and even wild boar aren’t kind to downed dragons, and there’s at least a few of those on the island here, not to mention anything else that happens along.”

This was the only option to which the Shadow Lord actually reacted. <No, no! Don’t just leave me here!> he whined, fear edging its way into his eyes again. I cocked an eyebrow at this outburst. “And why shouldn’t I leave you here?” I asked. “Sounds like the best plan to me,” Hiccup added. <They’ll find me here, they can’t find me!> he squirmed. <Kill me, drown me, anything, don’t let me be taken back!> I glanced at Toothless, who shrugged in confusion. I turned back to the Shadow Lord. “And just who, pray tell, do you not want finding you?” I asked. If we found out who wanted him, it might be just that much easier to get the Shadow Lord out of our lives. Plus, I was curious as to what scared this dragon so much.

<He’s worried that we would find him,> a deep, feminine growl sounded out from above us. Everyone jerked in surprise, none more so than the dragon at my feet, who now looked about ready to melt into the sand, and we glanced upward. Shimmering into view above us were a pair of massive dragons, both of them the same species as the one that lay at my feet, but larger, easily 70 feet in length. As they flared their wings and began to descend to the beach, the other dragons got ready to pounce at a moment’s notice, and the Vikings around me readied any weapons they’d scrounged up. I held up my hands. “Wait, wait, wait, hold on a moment!” I yelled, flaring out a pair of wings to emphasize my point.

The reaction was immediate. The Shadow Lords saw the wings rise from my back, and as they dropped to the sand, they lowered their heads in my direction. <So you are the successor to the Mystique!> they exclaimed. I frowned. “That doesn’t mean anyone should be bowing to me. Please, get up, this is embarrassing. And what is going on here, who are you?” The two new dragons looked up, apparently perplexed at my reaction. <But, you’ve been given a gift, that deserves recognition!> “And other than that, I’m no different from anyone else here,” I retorted. “I expect no special treatment.”

There was silence for a moment, save for mutters from the men standing behind me. <Very well, then,> the female of the new pair spoke finally. <Then we will explain why we are here, and why this one,> she gestured with her wing to the crippled reptile between her and the male on the other side, <is so afraid of the fact we’re here.> She looked around at the crowd in front of her, then nodded at the male.

“Pardon the shock, but first I should explain your so-called Mood dragons aren’t the only species capable of picking up your spoken tongue,” the female spoke clearly. Nonetheless, shocked gasps went up from the crowd, and Hiccup snickered at the reaction next to me. I nodded. “Go on,” I urged. “I am Senna,” the female gestured to herself, “and this is my mate, Gareth.” The male nodded in response. “This dragon whom you’ve had such trouble with recently, has given himself the name Cain.” Senna gestured again to the Shadow Lord we had been fighting. I snorted. “Rather appropriate, actually,” I remarked. Hiccup gave me a weird look, but Senna nodded. “It’s mostly coincidence, but it fits. As you can see, he’s small for our species, and this partly explains his condition, but he’s also been through some….troubling situations.” A snicker went through the crowd at the first part of the remark. I shot them a look, and they quieted down, then I glanced back at Senna and Gareth. “Please, continue,” I said, and Senna nodded.

“We are well aware of the name you northern people have given us, so-called ‘Shadow Lord,’” she said, and looked down at the “runt.” “That one is really wholly responsible for that reputation.” I raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Gareth stepped forward slightly. “Well, as you can see, he acts a bit, eh, different, from the rest of us,” he glared at the cripple. “But he’s the only one who has been attacking people or dragons. Our kind lives far from here, this one has wandered away. We look fearsome, but most dragons do, and the truth is where we live we try to help both our kinds as much as we can. No one usually knows because they can’t see us unless we want them to, but, well, our reputation has been greatly ruined by Cain.” I nodded, all the while simply thinking this was an odd turn of events.

Hiccup stepped up next to me. “Still doesn’t explain why he’s so scared of his species,’ he pointed out, agreement voiced by the men behind us. I nodded and looked up at Senna. “Cain here has been wanted for a number of years now,” she explained. “Again, while we, like you, do not enjoy violence, despite our appearance, we cannot just overlook his actions. He’s been on the run, both from us and for a purpose someone else put him up to, and we were sent out to find him and bring him back to our own home land and try to perform a sort of “re-education” to see if we can’t snap him out of these ways of his.”

I chuckled. “Well, that just perfectly solves the problem of what we were going to do with him.” An idea struck me, and I held up a finger. “In fact, if your idea works, you can send him here to begin to repay for what he’s done.”

“Are you insane?!” Stoick spoke up behind us, walking forward. “He just tried te kill us, and yer sayin’ send him back at some point?” I turned toward him. “If what they are saying succeeds, he should no longer be how he is now,” I said. “And besides, if he fakes it, I know it’ll be all too easy to bring him down the next time too.” I turned and looked at Cain again. “Deal with him as you see fit,” I said, walking forward and placing a hand on his snout. “The right actions are your key here, in order for our wounds to stay gone,” I said quietly.

From my hand a flow of energy spread outward, seeping along the dragon’s skin and glowing brightly at any injured location. After a few seconds, the glow fade and I removed my hand. Cain grunted, and then, slowly, carefully, he stood up.

He froe, and glanced at his leg, then back at me with wide eyes. I nodded, and he glanced at his wing, fine and folded to his side again. “You harm another human or dragon out of this path of yours, and your injuries will return full force, with a vengeance,” I warned, and then looked at Senna. “Take him and do as you need to.” She nodded. “He will return when it is due time,” she replied, and grabbed Cain on one side, Gareth the other, and they lifted off, headed to the southeast. After a short moment, they shimmered out of view, and disappeared.

Silence. Everyone watched the location the dragons had faded from view, and no one said a word for a good five minutes. Then, Stoick cleared his throat, gathering everyone’s attention. “Let’s, uh, get cleaned up here and head back te the village,” he said, before glancing at Ingavar and then Wolfblood, who was being held firmly by Gobber and two other men. “It seems there are still a few things we need to sort out.” Wolfblood looked up, then hung his head toward the ground. “Oh, no,” he muttered, too low for anyone else to hear, and I snickered.

Hiccup turned to me. “I have to say, that ended a whole lot better than I had expected,” he remarked. I nodded. “Had I ended up having to deal with te dragon myself I probably would have had a hard time of it,” I said. “Everything turned out how it probably should have.” Hiccup nodded in agreement, then glanced out to the ocean again. “What if he does come back and nothing’s changed?” he asked. I frowned. “Well, then, we’ll just have to be ready for that possibility.”

* * *

It took around an hour to get everything that could be salvaged together to be dealt with, and it took another hour to round up enough dragons to move everything, and the Vikings, back to the village. As soon as everything was in order, we took off, though as we flew over the forest, everyone ended up slowing down to gape at the huge burn mark we’d left behind.

When we reached the village, a huge crowd had gathered, wanting to hear what had happened, with the Shadow Lord and with the newfound knowledge we had about me and the rest of the teens and company. I groaned as we were all taken toward the Great Hall to discuss the day. It had been a long week already, and when I glanced at Hiccup, he looked like he had the same thought: it apparently was going to be even longer to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Mary Sue issues here, but the setup is necessary; you'll see why later. Also as it is, a lot of dragons wouldn't even be able to function and fly without a little help outside "standard physics." Not much of a stretch that a few of them can manage a bit more than just getting around with such abilities though. More on that as the books continue, as well as when I finally get Two Worlds Collide: The Book of Dragons up on here.


	10. Reeducation

“And out of the blue came two more o’ the beasts! Each of them was a hundred feet long! And they talked too!” “Gobber, can you cut down on the embellishment a little? You know as well as I do they weren’t that large. Keep it within bounds of reality, would you?”

It was later in the evening, after we had returned from the battle with the Shadow Lord. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was crammed into the Great Hall, listening to Gobber retell his version of the events of the past day. As always, he was ne for great exaggeration, and Hiccup and I were the only ones bothering to keep him in line.

“Yeah, well, anyway, they came down and just started up a conversation with Hawken there,” Gobber said, gesturing to me. “Turns out, the Dragon we’d had such a problem with, eh, he was just a rogue, something was wrong whit him! Te put a long story short, they flew off with him in tow te try and get his head on straight, an’ if they succeed, our resident dragon-boy here struck a deal that he’d come back here te repay the debt fer what he’s done.” Not surprisingly, this little detail made every head in the hall spin my direction and stare at me.

“Are ye insane?!” a nearby Viking, Hoark, yelled at me. I laughed and shifted in my seat. “Maybe a little bit. Seems to run in my family, and comes as part of the package deal, what with having abilities beyond any other human I know, but that’s really beside the point.” I stood up and gestured with my arm around the room. “As I told everyone who was at the scene, I am perfectly capable of dealing with the Shadow Lord, should he turn out to still be hostile. I know how he works now.” No more questions were raised on the subject, and everyone’s attention centered on the blacksmith again. He grinned mischievously.

“O’ course, I saved the best part fer last, really. There was a major detail I left out.” Gobber glanced at me, and I immediately groaned. “Really?” I complained. “Can not even a single thing be kept under wraps for a while? Does everyone need to know now?” He shook his head. “Nae, I’m gonna tell ‘em.” I sighed. If Gobber got something into his head, there was no arguing with him either. I sighed. “Fine, fine, continue if you must,” I conceded. Gobber nodded and grinned, then spoke again.

“It was halfway through the fight, and Hawken got injured and had te land. Stoick tried te patch ‘im up, but while he was doing that, Wolfblood and the Shadow Lord came divin’ down te blast us. There was nae anything te stop him either, and we were sure our time was up.” He paused for dramatic effect. “But, before the dragon could roast us alive, there was this weird noise, like rushing air with tumbling metal and glass. Then, the blast exploded over our heads.”

He paused again for effect, waiting for someone to speak up. Naturally, everyone followed his line of sight, at me, and someone did ask.

“Well, what didja see?” someone called out from the back of the crowd. “What happened?” Gobber shrugged in reply. “Well, that there’s the weirdest thing,” he said. “I have no clue what it was. Hawken had his hand stretched out above ‘im, and from it there was a stream of bright light shootin’ upward, spreading out like a shield above us, like a shell in the air. I’ve nae seen anything like it! The fire never came through; it just exploded across the, well, whatever it was.”

I felt like melting. Everyone turned to stare at me again, and Hiccup, who was sitting against Toothless nearby, sat up. “What exactly was it you made?” he asked. I slumped slightly. “Mind you, it wasn’t intentional,” I began, “since up to that point I didn’t know I could do things like that, but the best way I can describe what it was is a force field.”

“A what now?” someone asked. “A force field,” I said. “It’s nothing but pure, concentrated energy, like electricity or light, and the concentration causes it to act like something solid, unbreachable. If the field is strong enough, nothing can penetrate it, not even an explosion like a Night Fury fireball.” I scratched the back of my head. “Problem is, unless you have laser technology or some other technique that hasn’t even been invented where I come from, the only things that could create that much power is either black magic or metaphysical forces.”

A murmur raced up through the crowd. “So ye can become a dragon because yer a sorcerer?” someone asked. “Absolutely NOT!” I snapped. “Sorcerers, witches, and wizards are evil, they gain power from demonic sources. They have power for selfish reasons, or for deceptions and trickery. I was given a gift, chosen in order to help people, gain peace. Somehow I have been connected to sources of energy that are unseen by your average living thing. But as of right now that’s all I am: gifted.”

There were still murmurs in the crowd, but you can’t convince everyone. Hoark still looked suspicious, unbelieving though, even though he was used to me already. “If ye can control such things, and I’m guessin’ it’s partly because o’ the dragon side of ye, then prove it,” he said, gesturing outward.

I snorted. “Fine, then. I’ll make a decoration for the fireplace mantle, something simple.” I lifted my finger to my lips, and released a tiny, pathetic looking spit of flame. Focusing on it, I made the fire sit, unwavering just above the tip of my finger, and I moved my hand to hold just in front of Hoark’s widened eyes. Then, I withdrew my finger, leaving the waving flame hanging in midair, seemingly flickering out of nothing in particular.

“Just a couple last adjustments,” I drawled, lifting my hand up and placing the palm a couple of inches above the flame, and I pushed downward. The fire shot down, spiraling in a tight vortex almost to the floor. Every eye around the room was mesmerized by the swirling flames, and so they all suddenly jerked in surprise when the fire stopped moving, spiraling or flickering, and simply sat, floating in the air. I smiled, watching as the pillar appeared to change texture, becoming solid and reflective, before I reached down and grabbed it, handing it out to Hoark. He hesitated, but when I gestured the pillar to him, he gingerly reached out and took it. As soon as it touched his hands, he almost dropped it.

“Why, it-it’s glass!” he exclaimed. “It’s colored glass!” Everyone crowded around him to get a closer look, reaching out and touching the smooth surface of the staff, which indeed was now pure glass colored in a perfect replica of flaming reds, yellows, and oranges. They glanced at me, somewhat speechless, and Astrid sidled up next to me and whispered, “Impressive. Remind me to get your help when I make Hiccup’s next birthday present.” I smirked, and nodded slightly, before clearing my throat to get everyone’s attention again.

“Alright, if we can finish up gawking at Hawken’s shiny pretty magic trick, can we please get back to actual business? I do have a life that I need to keep up with too.” “Oh? And what else is it that you do?” Ingavar asked, having been watching from the background. “I come from another world, I have obligations there as well,” I said quickly, and glanced at Hoark. “Oh, and by the way Hoark, you live in this village, and you’ve known me for, what, a year now?” He nodded somewhat sheepishly. “The you’re supposed to help me keep people pacified, help me get Ingavar’s crew used to working with me and the dragons, not raise more suspicions of your own.” I heard Tuffnut snort in amusement somewhere in the crowd, and Hark nodded ashamedly. “Sorry.”

“Alright, back to business,” I said, rubbing my hands and turning to where Stoick and Gobber had taken a seat on either side of Ingavar. “To put it simply, Ingavar,” I began, walking up to him,” you are really the one in need of a bit of a ‘reeducation.’” There was some chuckling from the teens’ direction, and Ingavar sighed. “Alright, I will admit when I have been wrong,” he said. “The dragons seem te make rather good pets and helpers in yer village.” Toothless hissed in disapproval nearby, and I shook my head. "And there’s part of the problem,” I replied flatly. “I hate to be blunt, but you’re still missing the picture.” Ingavar looked at me somewhat irritated, but also questioningly. I turned toward the door of the Great Hall, and gestured for everyone to begin following me. “I need somewhere more open to talk about this,” I muttered.

We ended up out in the village square, in front of Hiccup’s house. “Alright, we’re out here again, what is it that I’m missing?” Ingavar asked tiredly. I looked around at all of Ingavar’s crew.

“First, a bit more of an introduction is needed on me,” I said. “You all already know about my becoming a dragon and all that goes with that, yadda yadda yadda. But there is more, and it’s time I told you, I think.” I pointed toward the forest, in the rough direction of the cove. “Some of you here,” I looked pointedly at Bitwolf as I said this, who was flanked on either side by Tuffnut and Snotlout, “already know I claim my home is out there, in the woods. Granted, that is the way I get to my home, but I do not live in the forest, nor do I even live on this island.” “Then why are ye always here?” someone asked. “There’s nae really anywhere else nearby to live.”

I grinned. “That’s because, as many of the tribes in the north here already know, I live in another world.” Immediately gasps and murmurs rippled through Ingavar’s tribe. The Hooligans who were near, however, simply smiled.

“Ye mean, another world like Jotunheim, or Asgard?” Bitwolf asked timidly. I shook my head, smiling. “No, not one of your mythical realms. I live on another earth, much like this one, but technologically nearly a thousand years ahead of this world. You could say I am from the future in a way. Now, just to clear up doubt, I am human, like any of you, and no one else in my world has gifts like mine.”

“Then why is it you do?” Ingavar asked. “What makes you so special?” I shrugged and chuckled, focusing on a picture of the first dragon I’d met, the Mystique. “I don’t know what makes me special, but I was the one chosen, nonetheless. My abilities came from this world, not even an hour after I first discovered the portal,” I explained as I changed, white wings stretching out above me and legs forcing me on all fours. “A dragon such as the one I am now found me. She had the gift I have now, though in reverse, so she could become human.”

I looked around slightly nervously, as the next part of the story was always a source of some conflict. “It turns out, the dragons and I recognize the same God, though in our own ways. The Mystique told me God had given the gifts to select individuals, who have passed them down over the years throughout this world. Though, as far as I know, I’m the first from another dimension.” I changed back, and stepped closer to the crowd, specifically Ingavar.

“This is what you have been missing for all of these years,” I announced forcefully. “The dragons are sentient creatures, every bit as much as we are, however they can’t really show it like we can since they, save for a very few, cannot speak or write like we do.”

“Then why were we raided by them before?” someone in the crowd asked. “If they’re so smart, they should have been able to figure somewhere else less dangerous to hunt.” I nodded. “And now that they’re in their right minds, they do. The creature we now call the Red Death was more a demon than a dragon, and as far as Hiccup and I have been able to figure it had some sort of telepathic control over the other dragons. It forced them to go out and raid settlements to feed it, lest the dragons end up being food themselves.” I glanced at Hiccup, who nodded, remembering the first time he’d been to the nest. “Hiccup and Toothless killed the red Death,” I continued, “and that released them from control. Other than a rogue dragon here or there, you’ll find if you ask any tribe around here there hasn’t been an attack for a good three years now, when they once happened at least monthly.”

I looked back again at Hiccup and Toothless, and motioned them forward. “Here, the dragons are no longer enemies, but our brethren,” I explained. “You look at these two and I’m sure most will see none other than brothers, not by blood but by spirit. People and dragons aren’t quite the same, but they’re similar enough to be able to differ only in looks and speech. For them, we provide companions, shelter, and in many ways protection, as I’m sure you’ve noticed over the last day or so.” At this, Ingavar and his tribe turned their eyes down slightly. I smiled, and continued. “For us, they provide much of the same things, such as easier hunting and fishing, help with building and heavy moving, and of course, access to the freedom of the skies.”

I walked up to Ingavar and grinned knowingly. “That’s the real reason I dragged you all out here. You may have ridden on me back from the beach, but that was a quick, low flight with nothing to it. You still need to find out what it’s really like to ride a dragon.” Ingavar’s eyes widened in realization of what I meant, especially as I morphed into a Nightmare right in front of him. “Now, h-hold on,” he stuttered, “it-it’s probably not safe for me right now, and I’m still just getting used to-“

“Ingavar!!” Stoick bellowed, shutting the other chief up just from surprise. “Believe me from personal experience, ye either need something like this, or have a dragon living with ye for at least a straight month before yer goin’ te really understand. Right now, which one do ye think is easier?”

It’s a hilarious thing, watching a full grown Viking equal to Stoick in size fidget and stare at me nervously. However, Ingavar wasn’t one to back down from what could also be seen as a direct challenge. “Just one flight?” he asked quietly. I nodded in agreement. “If that’s all it takes. Or all you want,” I added, grinning again. I knelt down, and he hesitantly stepped toward me. Then, he stopped and looked confused.

“Uh, where am I, uh, supposed to sit?” I snorted. “I think you’ll have the easiest time holding on at the base of my neck. That way it’s easier to support you,” I replied. Slowly, Ingavar climbed onto my neck. Once he was situated, I stood up, and I felt him grab onto my spines a little tighter.

“Are ye sure I won’t fall off?” he asked nervously. “Not if you don’t lean too far to the side,” I reassured. “And besides, if you do fall, we have a lot of practice with mid-air rescues at this point.” I glanced at Snotlout to emphasize this. “Hey!” he protested. I snickered, then looked at Hiccup and Toothless. “You coming?” I asked. “This might be easier if I’m not alone.” Hiccup smiled and nodded, hopping up onto his saddle.

“Now hold on tight!” I cautioned, before rearing up and pushing my wings down in a powerful burst. From Ingavar cam a shocked and frightened “WHOA!!” I chuckled again, and continued upward, gliding up over the houses in the village and angling toward the mountains. Looking back, I laughed. “You know, you’re also less likely to fall off if you open your eyes,” I drawled. “Also easier that way to see what you’re missing.”

Immediately, Ingavar’s eyes began to slowly open, then widened in surprise. He looked nervous, but started glancing around him as we climbed higher, up the side of the mountain range, and into the clouds scattered above and then around us. His expression melted, softening from fear to awe, and wonder. I glanced over at Toothless, who was gliding up beside me. <Think he’s figuring it out now?> he asked jokingly. I nodded. <Oh, definitely.>

We flew in silence for a while, gliding over the clouds and revealing everything that couldn’t ever be seen from on the ground, and finally Ingavar spoke. “I can’t believe we’ve been blind to all of this until now,” he admitted. “This experience….it’s impossible to describe!” I looked back at him with a knowing expression. “You still haven’t seen much either,” I said lightly. I nodded upward to Toothless and Hiccup, and angled myself upward toward the massive pillars of clouds towering still above us.

Do you remember the scene in the movie when Hiccup took Astrid on her first flight? How the clouds formed an entirely different world? Ingavar now saw this for himself, as we flew through the maze. The sun began to set, turning the “cloudscape” around us into a world of fiery color, and as we dipped down and flew through the tops of the sea stacks below, the same colors lit up the ocean, golden spray lighting up around us as waves crashed against the stone. Finally, as the first stars began to appear in the sky, we turned back toward the village. Halfway there, I heard quiet sobs from behind me. I turned to see Ingavar, the big manly Viking, with tears in his eyes. He looked up at me with an expression you almost never see in Vikings. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “All those years, and I never knew, never decided to question what I’d been told.” I nodded slightly. “Every Viking in Berk went through the same thing,” I said. “It’s over now, but your life isn’t. There’s still time to make amends and turn things around.” “Plus, maybe now you’ll be able to find a new way to make a name for yourself,” Hiccup called over from on Toothless. “Find a companion who fits you, and everyone will listen to what you have to say.” Ingavar nodded. “I will,” he said. “I’m going to start by spreading the news with me when we go back south.”

We landed back in the commons, and Ingavar slowly slid off and stood in front of his crew. “I have an announcement,” he bellowed. Everyone looked at him expectantly. “From now on, we will no longer hunt dragons of any kind. No, we will begin protecting them, wherever we visit. We will take what Berk and its residents-and allies,” he added glancing at me, “-and spread the news wherever anyone will listen.” He then glanced at Stoick, Hiccup, and I in turn before continuing. “Also, every person in my crew has a new assignment before we leave Berk: you are, at some point, to find someone who is willing to give you at least one flight on dragon-back.” He blinked away forming tears again. “You will not be the same,” he added quietly.

Ingavar then turned to Gobber, who happened to be still carrying a couple of mugs of mead from the hall, and motioned for one. Gobber grinned and obliged, and Ingavar held his mug up high. “A toast, to beginning our life anew today!” he yelled, and his crew repeated him, before cheering and yelling, and all around becoming boisterous.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Ingavar said as they began to quiet down again, “Stoick and I have some details we must still work out.” He turned to face Bitwolf and his father. “That includes the prisoners and traitors to be dealt with.” As he turned to leave with Stoick, the snickering laughter on Wolfblood’s behalf could hardly be missed. He turned his head down further and whimpered quietly.

As Hiccup and I followed the two chiefs, however, we both missed one important detail, one problem with the new change that was happening: in the far back of the crowd were a dozen or so men from Ingavar’s crew who were not celebrating, but instead still hiding their boiling anger and new scheming, and still stubbornly holding onto the old ways.

* * *

By the time I left the village, it had all been settled: Wolfblood was going to be spending some very quality time in his own personal prison cell down by the North Sea, courtesy of Ingavar’s contacts down there. Plus, Bitwolf would be staying with Ingavar personally, to make sure he grew up with the right mindset and didn’t follow any further on his father’s ideas.

“Mom? You in here?” I called as I stepped in the back door. “Yes? What is it?” she called from her bedroom. “There’s been a new development. Can we sit down for a minute?” I asked. She came out of her room, and my sister and father up from the basement. My mom eyed me suspiciously, but sat down on the living room couch as I did the same. “What happened?” she asked. “Someone didn’t die, did they?” Holly piped up. I laughed and shook my head. “No, no, nothing like that. I think this is good. But first,” I said, “how do you feel about a new decoration for the display case?”

It took five minutes before my mom fainted, and half the night for me to retell the story, again.

* * *

Late that night, Toothless awoke to an odd sound coming from outside his and Hiccup’s room. Quietly, so as not to disturb his friend sleeping in the bed (who had only fallen asleep minutes ago), he slipped out the open window and jumped down to the ground. Something was off, and he smelled the scents of numerous people who had just been by here. Quietly, carefully, he followed the trail toward the trees behind the house.

Ropes and chains came out of nowhere, flying over Toothless and dragging him to the ground. He struggled and started to roar, before two sets of hands clamped down on his mouth and muzzled him. “Keep ‘im quiet, or this’ll never work!” someone whispered, and soon, the attackers had the Night Fury fully immobilized. They hoisted him in the air, and made their way down along the edge of the village toward the docks.

The men in the watchtowers never saw the small ship leave, as they skirted the edge of the island and kept all lights out, until they hit open waters and disappeared, taking their precious cargo with them. No one would notice until late next morning, as there was no boisterous dragon to wake Hiccup up at first light.


	11. Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those Hiccstrid fans out there, rejoice...occasionally I do sneak in bits and pieces of romance too.

Oh, how long it had been, a full night’s sleep, and waking up late in the morning. I lay there, content not to move at all.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Until the frantic knocking on the back door forced me to get up, frowning as I did so. I pulled on a clean set of clothes as quickly as I could, and darted out to the kitchen where I found, unsurprisingly, Hiccup and Astrid at the door again. I yanked it open and stepped out, my irritation apparently crystal clear on my face.

“You know, it’s been nearly a week since I managed to sleep in, and I was going to enjoy my one weekend without work,” I grumbled. “What’s happened now?”

Hiccup shrugged hurriedly. “Sorry, we were hoping for a peaceful day too,” he said, “but we have a really bad problem: Toothless is gone.” A chill ran down my spine, and my eyes widened a bit. “Are-are you sure he’s not just playing a game of ‘find me’?” I asked hopefully. “For the past 3 hours?” Astrid asked. “We all know how Toothless tends to stick close to Hiccup, and he almost never disappears for that long.”

I sighed. “Okay, so for obvious reasons he’s not at the cove, or at your house,” I began, looking at Hiccup. Then I glanced at the portal. “Did you check the warehouses and the overlook?” Hiccup nodded, and started counting off places on his fingers. “Yes, and the forest trails, and the boats in the harbor, and the rest of the teen’s houses, and even the guest houses and the sea stacks, and-“ “Okay, okay, I get it,” I said, cutting him off. I rubbed my forehead and groaned.

We also noticed a couple of other things too,” Astrid added in. “There’s scratch marks and boot prints in the dirt around the trees behind the village, a couple of old ropes too, and one of the ships in the harbor has gone missing.” I raised an eyebrow, and queried, “One of ours, or Ingavar’s?” “Ingavar’s.” I nodded, and went inside to grab some equipment. “Then we had better get moving. Now.”

I told my mom I had to leave (much to her annoyance, again) and we wasted no time in flying to Berk, Astrid and Hiccup on Thorn and me, well, on my own of course. Once there, I glided down and landed in front of the chief’s house. He wasn’t there, either. “They all in the Great Hall?” I asked. Hiccup nodded. “Probably,” he muttered. Again, we took off, wasting no time.

I slammed the doors of the hall open, and sure enough, both of the chiefs were inside, numerous other Vikings gathered with them around the stone firepit. As I walked in, my loud entrance turned every head in my direction.

“Ah, Hawken, good te see you here!” Stoick said. I nodded, but locked eyes with Ingavar. His expression told me he had read mine, as his face became more nervous than before. I walked over to them, and glared at the visiting chief. “What do we know about Toothless’ disappearance, and that of your ship?” I asked lowly.

“I-I, uh, all I know is that some of my men and one of the ships are missing currently,” Ingavar said quietly. “I am assuming they found a way to take him with them.” “And where, pray tell, would they most likely have taken him to?” I growled, slowly beginning to boil as I put the pieces together. “Well, I uh, don’t know, really,” Ingavar replied. “I mean, there are a number of trading locations we’ve set up, many of which they could have gone to, but I could be-“

I whirled on Ingavar, my anger causing my eyes to blaze red, and my wings flared out behind me. “I don’t care where they _could_ have gone!” I yelled. “Give me the most likely spot, your best guess if that is all you have, the closest location, and that’s it!”

The hall went silent. I have a short temper when I’m alone, but I am usually reserved around others. Everyone knew if I started yelling, then I was past boiling point. Ingavar was similarly taken back by my outburst, and wasted no time in getting to the point. “There’s a group of big game hunters who own a facility on the coast of Norway,” he blurted. “They pay good money for exotic animals for their clients to hunt. A Night Fury, or any dragon for that matter, would fetch top price there, and it’s only a couple of days’ sailing from here. They probably headed there.” I nodded, and looked at Stoick. “Thank you Ingavar. Stoick, how fast could we get there flying?” Stoick leaned back slightly and rubbed his chin. “If it’s about two or three days by sea, then I’d say only just over a day by dragon,” he answered. “Good,” I said, and faced Hiccup and Astrid. “Get the rest of the teens, tell them to grab their weapons and some provisions, and get ready to leave. I’ll be back within an hour or two.”

* * *

I blasted homeward, running inside when I arrived and grabbing a small pack, filling it with some food and my swords. As I did this, my father came downstairs to find me. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Toothless has been kidnapped, and we’re going to find him,” I replied curtly. “I’ll be gone for a couple days.”

My father folded his arms. “I understand you aren’t working this particular weekend, but you do have a job to uphold here still. Just how long will you be gone?” I sighed. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be packing extra food,” I muttered. “If he was taken where we think, I should be back around three days, tops. If things go really bad, maybe 5.” He sighed. “You’ll have a lot to do when you get back then. Be safe, will you?” I smirked. “I’m half dragon. I’ll be plenty safe.” He nodded and headed back upstairs. After I had properly secured my swords to my pack, I ran upstairs to make sure everything would be properly secure at home while I was gone, grabbed what little more food I thought I would need, and darted back to the portal.

Ingavar’s fleet of ships would be following us to the village we were headed to, as he had completed everything he thought was necessary in his stay in Berk, so all preparations took us into the evening. I circled the village one last time, and after being satisfied myself that everything was in place, and going as Stoick had ordered, I glided back to the Great Hall.

“All preparations look secure outside,” I relayed to Stoick, and then I turned to everyone else. “Is everyone ready?” Everyone who was going nodded in unison. “Good,” I said. “We leave at the crack of dawn, no later.” It was too late to leave that night, as while the sun was up until almost midnight that far north, we needed our rest for the long flight ahead, and so we would have to wait to take off. Of course, that didn’t help Hiccup at all with how he was feeling. Throughout dinner, I watched as he sat at the table with the rest of the teens, barely picking at his food.

After a good half an hour of him sulking, I finally turned to face him. “Look, I know this hurts, to have someone so close disappear on you,” I started, “but starving yourself will not help save Toothless. It will only hurt you, and we can’t have that. You’re skinny enough already.” Hiccup sighed, smiling slightly at my jab, and looked at me. “I can’t help it,” he said quietly. “I don’t know where he is, whether he’s still perfectly fine, or dead. I don’t do well under that kind of pressure, okay?” I nodded, and put my arm over his shoulder.

“I know how you feel, Hiccup,” I said. “Toothless is strong, it would take a lot to actually bring him down. We need you to be strong too, though, as we’re going to need everyone at their top game if things turn really south somehow.” I glanced at the doors of the Hall. “But believe me,” I continued, “if I say we will find him, we will find him. Plus, I assure you I am going to make sure none of these numbskulls ever tries a stunt like this ever again.” I smiled, and Hiccup returned it, before finally turning and actually taking a bite of his food.

* * *

The next morning, everyone gathered in the village commons. The teens and their dragons readied to take off, and we found a local Nightmare who was big enough and willing to carry Stoick as well. I turned to Hiccup. “Ready to go?” I asked. He nodded, lifting up his two swords and attaching them to his harness. “Good.” I bent forward, morphing again to full-on Night Fury. As I kneeled down, Hiccup walked over and hoisted himself up, taking a seat across the base of my neck. “Mind the swords,” I joked. Hiccup only smiled. “You have them too, yours or mine?” “Both.” We chuckled slightly, and looked around. Seeing everyone in place and ready, I roared loudly and snapped my wings out, lifting off vertically into the air. The rest of the riders followed thereafter.

As I looked back, I saw the teens and Stoick flying, Stoick coming up next to me to help find the way, but I also spotted some dragons carrying some of Ingavar’s crew as well. “Hey, Hiccup, looks like we’ve got some extra help with us.” He looked back as well, and laughed. “Looks like some of our ‘help also still has a fear of heights,” he snickered. We chuckled, at the expense of some of the green faces following us, then focused forward, flying in relative silence. The ocean stretched out below us, flat and gray-blue, as the island of Berk disappeared behind. With not even a fishing boat visible this far out, it was quite an isolating feeling. The only thing breaking the monotony was Ruff and Tuff’s inevitable quarrel.

By evening, we had managed to reach the most western edge of Norway, and decided to set up camp on an elevated beach at the open end of a fjord. I stayed dragon, in case there happened to be any problems that evening, like wandering predators or untrusting locals. As night fell around us, everyone gathered around the fire we built, Astrid and Hiccup adorably cuddling together to conserve warmth, and using me as a backrest in place of Toothless.

“So exactly where is this hunting facility?” I asked, glancing at one of Ingavar’s men. “Eh, about twenty miles from the Atlantic, near the coast o’ the North Sea,” he replied. I nodded. “So we have to fly around the tip, and head east from there.” The Viking nodded, and turned back to the fire.

Fishlegs spoke up. “If my reading of the maps is correct, and with the rate we’ve been flying, we should be able to get there no later than midday tomorrow if we follow the coast,” he said. I nodded in agreement. “That means they’ll probably arrive by early morning, so it should be easy enough to find them,” I added. “I hope so,” Astrid muttered. “I’m looking forward to giving them a pounding they’ll never forget.” “I’ll help,” Hiccup muttered, and everyone snickered at that thought. After that, the night continued to grow deeper, and one by one, everyone began to drift off to sleep, retiring under the blankets we’d packed as the fire began to die down.

As the moon rose, I discovered I had fallen asleep as well, and awoke to find that there were no longer two warm bodies resting against my side. Hiccup and Astrid had left after I had drifted off. I quietly got to my feet, and followed the footprints in the moonlit sand. The footprints led away from the beach, toward the forest rising up along the coast. Within, I found a trail leading up the steep incline of the slope.

The trail led me up the side of the cliff by the beach, to a bluff high above. It overlooked the fjord, and glancing over the side, I saw the water below sparkle in the reflection of the moon, lined by the dark color of the trees on the shoreline. As I quietly emerged from the trees, I finally caught the voices of the couple I was searching for.

“-going to blame me. I didn’t even notice I wasn’t getting woken up for an early flight like usual,” Hiccup was saying .I crept out a little further, my dark hide still well camouflaged against the forest, and spotted him and Astrid sitting together, wrapped in cloaks, at the edge of the bluff, overlooking the fjord. As Hiccup spoke, Astrid leaned against him. “It was a long week,” she said. “We were all tired, and it happened when everyone was asleep. They even managed to sneak past the night guards, let alone a boy sleeping in his room. Toothless won’t blame you for that.” Hiccup sighed and turned to her.

“You know how Toothless can be at times though. Someone hurts him badly enough, he may try to find someone to lay it all on.” “Not you,” Astrid assured. “He’s your best friend; you two are practically tied at the hip. He’s far too attached to you to go off like that if you’re there.” She sat up and grabbed his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. “You are being too hard on yourself, and you know it. Everyone knows you’re one of the few that could calm him after something like this. You managed to keep him from killing your dad when he thought your life was at stake.” “Yeah, thanks for reminding me about that day,” Hiccup grumbled. Astrid punched him on the shoulder lightly. “You know what I mean,” she growled. “But you are the one he will listen to, you’ll see.” They both looked out toward the ocean, sitting in silence for a few minutes.

I was about to get up and leave, before conversation started anew. “Everything will be alright,” Astrid began again. “We’ve got Stoick and Hawken along with us. Stoick is the figurehead that people will actually be willing to surrender to, and he knows all the technical laws and such, and Hawken….well, we all know how he is.” They both laughed as I raised an unseen eyebrow. “You’re probably right,” Hiccup said. “He’ll leave them with a memory they’ll never forget.” I smirked. _Yes, yes I will,_ I thought, _and the rest of the country once word spreads._

“Between you and me, though,” Astrid began, leaning on Hiccup again, as Hiccup placed and arm around her, “I think he misses Toothless almost as much as you do.” Hiccup snorted. “He sure knows how to hide it then,” he drawled. “I mean, he got angry when he heard about the kidnapping, but he hasn’t been moping around about it.” Astrid chuckled and also put her arm around Hiccup. “Well, he’s good at hiding a lot of things,” she replied. “You two really aren’t that different at all; you three if you count Toothless.” Hiccup smiled and looked at her. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked jokingly. Astrid looked up at him with a warm smile. “Maybe a little of both,” she said, drawing close to him. They chuckled again, and leaned together for a kiss. I smirked at the show of affection, knowing I now had something else that would turn Hiccup red later, and decided that it was time I left. I quietly crept backward into the trees again, leaving the two Vikings in peace and privacy.

Morning came, and we hurried to clean up camp and get moving again. All we really had to do was roll up blankets and cover the fire, and once all the supplies were back in place, we were off again. As we flew, I took note of the Norwegian coast. Back home, I had seen pictures of the ocean-carved fjords and thick forests, but never seen it in person. Norway certainly is quite a sight, what with the rivers and fjords etched all through the coast, along with rolling hills and sparse mountains beyond, in the distance. I glanced back at Hiccup, who was more focused ahead of us than at the scenery we were passing.

“So you think I’m a memorable character, huh?” I drawled nonchalantly. Hiccup jerked in his seat and glanced in surprise down at me. “Wha-wait, who told you about that?” he sputtered. “No one,” I said casually. Hiccup blinked, and it took a couple of seconds before he put the pieces together and realized what I meant. “You found us last night, didn’t you?” he asked quietly, color already beginning to flush across his face. I laughed. “You up and leave in the middle of the night without telling anyone, and you think the dragon you two were sleeping against wouldn’t notice and come try and make sure you were alright?” I glanced back again and gave him the fisheye, my tone going more serious. “Remember, if you and Astrid manage to actually disappear, that means there are three friends I will be forced to find and rescue.” Hiccup looked slightly guilty. “Look, I’m, uh, sorry we made you worry, but it’s just that-“

I started giggling again, cutting him off. Hiccup raised an eyebrow and his shoulders slumped. “What’s so funny now?” he asked. “I know why you left,” I said, still grinning. “I heard the conversation. And it’s perfectly understandable; I was just giving you a bit of a hard time.” Hiccup groaned. “Which I should expect coming from you by now,” he said. I smiled and shrugged.

“Astrid’s right, by the way,” I continued. Hiccup glanced at her on Thorn, confused. “What do you mean?” “Toothless does mean a lot to both of us,” I said. “You think I’m good at hiding it right?” Hiccup nodded. “That’s only because I’ve learned that if you publicly show attachment, or always look down in the dumps when something goes wrong, people won’t listen to a word you say, and they’ll take advantage of your feelings for others if they know,” I explained. I glanced at Astrid and thorn as well, then gestured with my paw to the rest of the Vikings.

“I’ve managed to get you guys to follow and trust me partly because I have worked on not showing great concern and worry as really affecting me.” I looked up at Hiccup. “Though it does, more than you’d know. That’s also a lesson you can use when you become chief.” He groaned. “Did you have to bring that up?” he asked. “I’m not looking forward to it.” I chuckled. “No, but like your father, you were born to lead, you are a natural at it. I’m not; all my leadership skills were learned over years of training and experience. Besides, when that day comes, I’ll be there to help.” “Oh, that’s a comforting thought.” We both chuckled again, and finally, I managed to see that shine begin to return to Hiccup’s eyes.

* * *

“There it is!” “Oh, finally!”

After a half-day’s flight, we had finally made it within visual range of the target village. I peered closer, and spotted the missing ship moored at the docks in the harbor. “They’re here too,” I announced. Stoick nodded. “Alright, everyone te the beach below!” he bellowed. We dove down and glided to the sandy shoreline fronting the forest.

As we landed, all the Vikings got off and gathered in a loose circle. When I didn’t immediately join them, they all glanced at me. “Well?” Snotlout said impatiently. I sighed. “I can hear you perfectly fine from here,” I replied. “Yes, but the people here’ve probably nae heard o’ talkin’ dragons,” one of Ingavar’s men pointed out. “Good point,” I conceded, morphing back to myself and joining them.

“Okay,” Stoick began, wringing his hands. “We’re here for information, but these people are probably not too trusting of many Vikings, or dragons at this point. We will fly in formation to the village, me in lead as the chief, followed by Hiccup and Astrid behind, and everyone else in formation behind them.” He took a stick on the sand and drew a quick picture of who was to be where. “When we land in the village, we split up and find someone who knows where our delinquents went,” he continued. “When we find out where this place is, we head there and plan the rest when we find it.”

Here Stoick, followed by everyone else, glanced at me. “What? You’re the chief, Stoick, you don’t need an okay from me,” I deadpanned. “I know, but I’m nae sure how we’re goin’ te get any untrusting villagers under control,” he said. I sighed. “Well, any issues arise, I’ll take care of them,” I replied. “And when we find this facility, everyone should stay in the forest. I’ll go in, find out where they’re hiding Toothless, and then report back.”

I bent down and drew with a claw another rough sketch. “We can deal with the details later, but everyone should simply march up to the front gate or door or whatever, and request to speak with whoever’s in charge. I don’t think I need to explain why the dragons should stay hidden during this part, though,” I said, glancing at the reptiles. “I don’t want to risk any more of them getting caught.” I stood up. “Should they let you in without any issues, find out who is responsible and apprehend them. If they don’t let Toothless out without a fight,” I glanced at Hiccup, “you whistle, and I’ll take care of the rest.” Astrid lifted a hand. ‘Um, what if they won’t let us in?” she asked. “Then Hiccup will just whistle a little sooner,” I replied, smirking. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Stoick said. “Everyone mount up, and get in formation!” We all did so, the Vikings mounting as I transformed to Night Fury again, and Hiccup got on. We lifted off again, and flew out over the water.

As we came in over the ocean, off the shores of the village (Sturmlein, as Ingavar’s crew called it), Stoick signaled to get in proper formation. I glided in behind Firetail, Stoick’s temporary ride, and Astrid and Thorn came in beside me. Everyone else lined up behind us, and as Stoick gestured downward, we all dipped nose-first toward Sturmlein. We gained speed, me working to try and keep from shooting past Stoick, but even still the signature whistle began to build up in the wind around me. Down below, I watched the docks begin to pass below us, and watched in mild amusement as the villagers began screaming and diving for cover. Apparently, they knew enough about dragons to know what we were capable of.

The center of the village neared, and we simultaneously flared our wings, touching down. We all formed a circle as the villagers gathered, shocked at the sight of people riding the very creatures they had likely been taught to fear, and I also began to see traces of other feelings besides apprehension in their faces.

“Who is the leader of this village?” Stoick boomed. For a moment there was silence, no one speaking. Then, came the sound of rushing feet, and a small group of armed men came marching into the square. Between them was a distinguished looking, thin and yet strong man.

“I am Harald, governor of Sturmlein,” the man spoke, with a hardened tone. “Who are you, and what is your business here in our land, terrorizing my people?” Stoick cleared his throat. “I am Stoick the Vast, chief of the Hairy Hooligan Viking tribe. We are searching for a group of men from the Seafarer tribe of Ingavar the Fearsome, whose ship we spotted in your harbor.”

Stoick dismounted from Firetail and stood squarely in front of Harald. “The men we search for left our village but three days ago, with stolen property.” I growled warningly, and Stoick glanced at me, realizing his mistake. “I correct myself,” he said, “they stole a valuable and necessary part and member of my village.” Harald crossed his arms. “And what, per se, is it which they stole?” “My son’s dragon, a Night Fury.”

Harald stole a look at me and Hiccup. “Is that your son there?” he asked. Stoick nodded, and Harald snorted. “Quite the shrimpy child, for such a figure as you. But I see he is already riding a Night Fury, so I am assuming you are here for no more than revenge?” Stoick sighed, and I could see he was none too happy at the slight toward Hiccup. “Nae, that is not his dragon,” he said measuredly. “That is a friend of ours, and Hiccup’s dragon is still missing, kidnapped.”

Harald began to laugh. “A friend, you say?!” he chuckled. “You refer to the beast as if it’s practically human!” At this, the rest of the village caught on to their governor’s joviality, an began to laugh at our expense as well. As Stoick’s attempts to gain their attention again failed, he looked at me. I glanced up at Hiccup, and whispered quietly, “Cover your ears.” He did so, and Astrid, who was also nearby, followed his lead. Once they were covered, I raised my head up, took in a large breath, and screamed out an ear piercing shriek, reverberating across the commons and vibrating the pots and windows nearby. I found mild amusement in the fact that one directly across from me gained a sudden spider web crack as well. As Harald and his villagers cringed at the noise, dropping to the ground and covering their ears, I quieted and motioned for Hiccup to get off. He obliged, and I stepped up next to Stoick, both of us looking none too pleased. Harald, noticing the shriek was no more, uncovered his ears and stood up slowly. He glanced down at me. “So, the beast can understand us,” he said. “I still find it hard to believe you’d put them at the same levels as us humans though.” I glanced up at Stoick, who nodded. Turning back to Herald, the first thing I did was smile mischievously.

Even just that was enough to make Sturmlein’s governor do a doubletake. “Did…did that thing just…smile at me?” he squeaked. “Keep watching, he might do a trick,” Stoick replied. A snort escaped from Hiccup behind me. I obliged to Stoick’s reference, and stood up, flaring my wings. Harald backpedaled, thinking I was about to attack, but as within the next two seconds my wings completely disappeared, he fell over instead. I continued to change, my tail, scales, and any other draconic feature melting away, leaving me standing there, just a teenage boy with a pack and a pair of swords on my back.

The village was so silent, you could hear the mice scrabbling in the walls of the houses. No one moved, or even seemed to breathe, for a good two minutes as I had a stare down with Harald, my serious and his shocked eyes. Finally, I casually turned to Stoick. “Think they’ll cooperate now?” I asked jokingly and nonchalantly. Stoick laughed. “I would hope so, but I think it will take their ‘governor’ thawing out first.” This time the laughter flowed from our side, at the expense of the still-frozen Harald. This finally managed to crack him, and he moved again.

“What are you?” he asked, pointing and accusing finger at me. “That wasn’t natural.” “Always the first question I get,” I replied, smiling. “And no, it was supernatural. I’m human, like you, rest assured, but I come with an extra gift from God.” He shook his head. “Are you sure you’re not just some witch or sorcerer?” he asked warily. “No, no, quite the opposite,” I replied. I watched as some of the tension in the air released, but not much. Naturally, most didn’t believe me. I didn’t really care at this point.

“Anyway, now that I finally have yer attention again,” Stoick cut in, “would ye now be so kind as to tell us where the men went with our Night Fury?” Harald jerked, startled, realizing that there was still someone else here besides me, and looked at Stoick. “They were taken to the fort where the game hunters prepare their quarries,” he spilled, and pointed up the main road leading from the village. “Just follow that road a couple kilometers, you can’t miss it.” He looked at us worriedly, expecting some sort of reaction for his brash approach earlier. I began transforming back to Night Fury, which was plenty enough to gain attention, but I cleared my throat to get Harald’s attention specifically anyway. “How long ago was it that they headed there?” I asked. He scratched his head meekly. “No-no more than a couple of hours,” he replied quickly. “They should all still be up there.” I nodded, and stepped over to Hiccup and motioned for him to get on. We left without even a thank you, making sure to keep the village wary until we came back down.

It didn’t take even five minutes flying down the road before we all spotted the thick-walled structure ahead and off to the right in the woods, with a great stretch of land behind it surrounded by high fences. I motioned for everyone to land in the forest, and everyone got off their dragons.

<Okay, you all need to make sure you stay here, and out of sight,> I said to the reptilian portion of our little posse. <We don’t want a big huge alert going up.> They nodded in unison and backed further into the dense forest to remain unseen. I trotted up then to the Viking portion of the group. “I’m going in to check it out,” I said. “I’ll find out where they’re holding Toothless and see what all we’re up against.” I looked to Ingavar’s men. “Most of you have been here before, right?”

Surprisingly, they shook their heads. “We’ve done all the transactions in the village,” one spoke up. “We’ve nae gone te the actual place before, but we also have nae had anything like a Night Fury te sell.” I sighed. “Alright, then, everyone just stay put. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

I slunk into the forest, changing to one of my favored forms along the way: the Shadow Dragon. It was the only one that could get into and around the fortress without being noticed somehow. Once fully transformed, I melted into the shade of a nearby pine tree, and quickly, quietly made my way to the fortress.


	12. Rescue...and Retribution

It was big. The front door alone was probably 15 feet across, and the stone walls built a good 30 feet in height. These people knew the power of some of the creatures they hunted. Of course, they knew nothing about me.

As I melted through the shadows of the doorframe, I took note of the guards positioned along the top of the walls and all along the inside of the fort. To the left were doors, to the right were more doors, and in front of me was a huge commons area with, unsurprisingly, _more_ doors on the other side. Most of them it was easy to see led to eating areas, maintenance rooms, and other living necessities, but the doors lining the back of the courtyard were larger, and far more heavily armored.

_Bingo,_ I thought, and wafted through the shadows in the walls toward the first armored door on the left. I looked back around to make sure I could locate the exact door later when I managed to find which one held Toothless. Then, I peered into the interior of the first room.

What awaited me wrenched my heart. Lying on the floor, breathing heavily, and chained to the wall, was a magnificent, full-grown Bengal tiger. Its fur was matted, with grime and blood, its tail was kinked, and it looked like it hadn’t been fed in days, or had a good cleaning in weeks. Now I had a different fuel for my anger, and I was beginning to boil again. It was already decided, this facility would be no more after we got Toothless and the other captives here out.

I checked into the next cell. Inside was an Asiatic black bear, in the same condition as the tiger. Beside that cell was another holding an arctic wolf. Not a pack, like there should have been, but just one, lonely, abused white wolf. Past that, I found something even worse: a small, triangular headed, large-winged dragon with long, vine-like feelers extending from the back of its head.

_Changewing,_ I thought, _how on earth did they manage to get one of those? They’re harder to find than Timberjacks!_ I shook my head, deciding the how wasn’t at all important, and flowed into the cell, coming close to the young dragon.

<Are you alright?> I asked warily. Changewings were known to often be aggressive, but all this one did was jerk its head up to look around. When it did, though, it winced in pain. I could see why easily: a collar of spikes around its neck, the prongs digging in and cutting the skin. <Who’s there?> the young dragon whispered nervously. It was a young male, from the tone of voice. <I’m a friend, don’t worry. I’m here to help.> He looked around franticly. <Please get me out of here!> he whimpered. <They’re going to kill me!> <They won’t if I can help it,> I replied. <Another friend of mine is here too, and I’ve brought some people who will help. I will be back very soon.> The Changewing nodded, his look of pure fear replaced with a shred of hope. I melted into the shadows again, and move to the fifth cell.

<TOOTHLESS!>

I’d finally found him in that cell. He was held down with the same kind of spiked collar, and a thick muzzle binding his snout. Every limb was also changed to the ground. When I yelled, his eyes snapped open, and he looked around for me. <Hawken? Is that you?> he asked quietly. <Yeah, it is.> I replied. <I’m here with the rest of the gang; we’re going to get you out.>

Toothless’ eyes widened. <How did you find me?> he queried lifting his head up slightly. <A lucky guess,> I said. <Some of Ingavar’s men came along to help-> I was cut off when Toothless yelped in pain, and let his head drop to the stone floor again. <You alright?> I asked, though I knew the answer already. Toothless shook his head barely, as well as he could. <No, I’m not. This collar is already taking its toll on me,> he said sadly.

I narrowed my shadowbound eyes, and glared out into the courtyard. <I’ll be back very soon,> I growled. <I have to go get the Vikings, and then we’re breaking all of you out of here.> <Wait!> Toothless cried. <I need to know, before you leave again: is Hiccup here with you?> I smiled unseen. <Yes, he is, and he’s just about ready to kill to find you.> <I know how he feels,> Toothless replied, sounding relieved, but also menacing. <Please hurry back.> <We will,> I assured.

As I slid back into the shadows of the courtyard, I spotted a group of people at one of the wooden tables that were unmistakably Viking. I slithered forward, creeping into the shade beneath the table, and listened to their conversation.

“-if they find us, though?” one of them was saying. “Those two scrawny boys won’t just let go of that dragon without a fight.” “Ah, quit yer worryin’,” another replied. “There’s any number o’ villages we could’ve gone tae, it’s nae likely they’d manage te pick this one first.” “Yeah, and we’ll be gone by evening anyway, an’ the Night Fury will be taken out already tae the hunt tonight,” a third added in. An amused chuckle ran around the table.

I boiled over again. _After all, they’ll still treat dragons as evil beasts anyway,_ I reasoned, as the tip of my tail materialized. I raised it up, and spiked the nearest leg with the sharp edge of one of the tailfins.

“YEEEOOUCCHH!!” He screamed, jumping up and backward, falling over the bench and hard on the ground, grabbing the now bleeding spot on his leg. “Something bit me! Something just bit me!” he squealed. Everyone jumped away from the table, looking under it to try and find the source of the danger. Of course, they couldn’t see me, but they could certainly hear me.

“They’ve already found you,” I hissed, my voice low, gravelly and unrecognizable, but I saw the men’s eyes widen in realization anyway. “I’ve already found you,” I added, a menacing hiss ending my sentence. At this point the dozen or so Vikings finally got the sense to back away from the table.

“Didja hear that?!” someone asked. The rest nodded slowly. “Something’s very wrong here,” another replied, and he drew his axe.

It’s not like they could have done anything to me, but I decided it was time anyway to go and find everyone else. As I left, the Vikings attacked the table, thinking they could get rid of whatever they heard, and in the process just made themselves look stupid to everyone else in the courtyard. Too bad for them I was already halfway back through the forest before they realized just what it looked like they were doing.

“Fifth door from the left, at the back of the courtyard,” I reported as I materialized in front of Stoick and Hiccup and the gang. “The traitors are still there too.” I glanced at Hiccup. “And I’ve decided, we’re going to end this very differently than we’d planned. Even if you guys get Toothless back easily, whistle anyway for me. I’m getting the other captives out of that horrid place, and I’m going to raze it to the ground.”

There was silence for a minute. “Gee, that’s not really like you at all. Is it really that bad?” Astrid asked. “Let’s just say I am very surprised Toothless hasn’t gone berserk and killed himself going on a rampage already from what they’ve done to him and the other animals.” I watched as Hiccup’s eyes darkened dramatically. “Let’s go,” he growled immediately, and turned to storm off.

As they all headed back to the road and up toward the fortress, I focused on an entirely new image, one that I expected to literally shock the socks off anyone who got in our way. I increased in size, expanding out to be twice the size of a Night Fury, and a long, whip-like tail extended out behind me. At the tip appeared two long jagged tailfins, and my arms flared out, stretching into wide wings that split halfway into three separate wingtips. My neck elongated and jagged horns matching my tailfins stretched from the back of my head. All the while, the color filled in, deep cerulean blue with electric jagged lines of white across my back, and bright cream underneath.

Once I was full transformed, I shot into the sky, flying just barely under the gray clouds that were beginning to fill the sky. The setting was perfect for what we were about to do, and it wasn’t very long at all before I heard Hiccup’s whistle echo up to my ears. I grinned and let out a shrieking roar, and arched down, arrowing straight for the center of the fortress, bolts of energy running across my skin as my entire body melted into a glowing streak of pure electricity.

* * *

Stoick and Hiccup headed the group as they walked up the path to the fortress. Or, more precisely, Hiccup marched up to the fortress and everyone else hurried to keep up with him. As they approached, a distinguished looking man appeared at the top of the wall above the doors.

“State your name and business here!” the man called down. Stoick looked up as he slowed near the doors. “I am Stoick the Vast of the Hairy Hooligan tribe! We are here on urgent business and must speak with the head of this facility!” The man turned to someone nearby and said something the group could not hear. The other man, a messenger, left and the gatekeeper turned to look back down at them. “Come in, but touch nothing!” he announced.

As the doors slowly cranked open, Hiccup muttered to no one in particular, “Too bad we won’t be keeping that promise.” They walked in when the doors opened fully, and were met by a pair of guards who escorted them toward a loose arrangement of wooden tables. Stoick and Astrid didn’t miss a sudden flurry of activity as a group of men disappeared hurriedly through a nearby doorway.

Less than a minute later, the gatekeeper and messenger appeared, flanking either side of a young, muscular looking man dressed in an outfit of thick leather. “I am Korin,” the man introduced. “I own this facility and its adjacent hunting grounds. What is your business in these parts?” Hiccup stood up immediately, determination and a dangerous fire evident in his eyes.

“Three days ago a group of Vikings left our village and made their way here with something very valuable they took from me. I want to get him back, as soon as possible!” Korin raised an eyebrow as Hiccup’s words registered. “Him?” he asked amusedly. “Exactly what kind of thing are you looking for?” “A Night Fury.”

Silence for a moment, then Korin burst out laughing. “Oh, that is rich!” he guffawed. “A Night Fury, huh? You think that if I did in fact manage to come into possession of a Night Fury to hunt, that I would just blindly release it to a mere twig of a boy and his friends, because they claim it was theirs?” Korin turned serious, and leveled a glare at Hiccup. “Do yu take me for a fool?” Hiccup shook his head. “No, I am beginning to take you for a despicable businessman.” He ignored Stoick’s protest at his choice of words, and continued. “Toothless and I have been together for more than two years now, and we have been through things you could not possibly imagine if you weren’t there.” “You speak of this beast as if it were a loyal companion instead of the vicious creature dragons are,” Korin scoffed.

“He is,” Hiccup replied flatly. The owner scoffed again. “No, I’ve seen them work, they’re vicious creatures, designed to hunt and kill, and therefore _be_ hunted and killed by skilled men like myself.” He leaned against the table. “I do in fact have a Night Fury, might as well say it as I can see you’re certain there is one here, and I paid top price for that creature. Very little is going to get me to release him, to anyone, for any reason.”

In response, Hiccup immediately pulled out one of his swords, aiming the tip at Korin, and Astrid stood up behind him, backing up his decision by pulling out her own axe. One by one, the rest of the Vikings did the same. “Give him back,” Hiccup hissed, the fire in his eyes raging, “or I will personally run you through with this.” Korin just smiled slightly and shrugged, before snapping his fingers. All around the edges of the walls of the fortress, the guards brought out and leveled crossbows at the Vikings, including the ones at the table.

“You’re outnumbered,” Korin drawled, taking out a sword of his own and leveling it at Hiccup. “You are not welcome here anymore. Leave, now, and never come back,” he threatened. Hiccup’s eyes did no job at hiding the rage he now felt, and lifted his sword slightly in preparation to swing.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him, and he whirled to find Astrid, looking at him with a stare that reminded him of everything. Slowly, he nodded, and carefully sheathed his sword. “Hiccup, what are you-“ Snotlout began to ask, but a glare from Astrid quieted him, and reminded him there was still a plan. He nodded, and put his mace away, the rest of the group also slowly sheathing their weapons. The Vikings turned, and appeared to start heading for the exit. Korin smiled, and turned away to attend to other business.

Not halfway across the courtyard, Hiccup suddenly stopped and spun around. He put his fingers to his mouth, and gave a loud, piercing whistle. Korin turned and drew his sword again. “What sort of trouble are you trying to get yourself into now, you little-“

TTSSSSSEEEEEEEERRRRRR!!!!

Korin’s voice died away as a screaming, shrieking roar echoed across the sky above. All eyes swung upward toward the darkening clouds, as a sudden flash of bright light appeared beneath the belly of the clouds and streaked straight down toward them.

“MOVE!!!” Korin yelled, diving away as the bolt of ‘lightning’ struck the center of the courtyard. A crack of thunder sounded, shaking the very air and causing everyone to cover their ears and drop to the ground.

When they looked back again, expecting to see nothing more than a blackened spot on the ground, gasps went up as everyone found instead there to be a buzzing, glowing ball of light where the bolt had struck.

“What in hell’s name…” Korin began, but trailed off again as the orb began to expand, swirling outward in a blinding pattern. A blazing vortex of electricity formed, soon towering over Korin and the Vikings.

Even Hiccup was struck speechless as he watched, frozen like all the others, at a spectacle no one alive had ever seen before, though it wouldn’t be the last. The top of the vortex began flaring outward and darkening. Triple-split wings appeared, and a long, snake-like neck rose above them. From the side of the electric whirlwind came a whipping, twitching tail. Color began to fill in, deep blue with white lightning streaks racing across the skin of the creature. Finally, the vortex abated completely, fading into the dragon and leaving it appearing like any other normal creature, save for sparks of electricity still racing off the horns and spine on the back. As the dragon lowered itself fully down onto its legs and wings, it glanced toward Hiccup, and grinned ever so slightly. Hiccup saw this and finally managed to shake himself out of his shocked state, smiling back.

“Hawken,” he whispered in greeting. The dragon nodded in reply, then suddenly whirled around to face Korin directly, wrapping his tail around the fortress owner before anyone could even think to react.

* * *

Seeing my dramatic entrance as having the exact effect I was desiring, I focused on the apparent head of the fort, wrapping my tail around his waist and hoisting him clear off the ground. He struggled and tried to free himself, to no avail as I continued to squeeze tighter each time he moved.

“Someone make this ugly lizard release me!” he screamed. “Not until you give the order to release the Night Fury and the rest of your captives,” I hissed threateningly in reply. The man froze, his eyes slowly turning to meet mine in shock.

“Did-did you just speak?!” he asked incredulously. I grinned. “Oh, I can do a lot more than talk, and I will before this meeting is done,” I drawled. “Now, kindly tell me your name, so I may address you properly.” The man regained his stubborn streak. “I’m not going to tell some stupid dragon what my-“ “Oh, for the love of… his name is Korin,” Hiccup interrupted nearby. “Thank you, Hiccup,” I acknowledged, and glared at the man I now knew as Korin.

“I am far more than I seem,” I hissed, “and whether you like it or not, every one of these cages will be open and empty before I leave here today.” I brought him right up to my snout. “Make it easy on yourself, and open the cages. Now.”

In response, Korin spat on my nose. My frown deepened, and I fried the gob of phlegm with an electric charge, smoke curling from my skin. “That your answer?” I asked. Korin didn’t move, just glared at me. I sighed. “Very well.” I slowly brought my tail down, and Korin breathed out a sigh of relief, thinking he had won and was going to be set down.

He sighed far too soon. I whipped my tail upward, releasing him at the top of the arc, and watched him fly. “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” He vaulted upward, slowed, and then came hurtling back toward earth. Before he hit the ground, of course, I snapped my tail back out and wrapped it around his legs, leaving him hanging upside down and looking particularly frazzled.

I lifted him up face to face with me again. “Still planning on being stupid?” I taunted. Korin’s eyes hardened again, and he glanced around at the guards on the fortress walls. “What are you waiting for?!” he yelled. “Shoot it already!!”

I heard the click of crossbows being drawn back, and watched nonchalantly as the guards took aim. Lowering Korin down slightly so he wouldn’t be in the way, I gave the guards an open shot, and waited.

SCHHEEEWW!! SCHEEWWW!!

All the better: they fired at the same time, and a ring of arrows streaked through the air. At the same time, a wave of electricity exploded outward from me, striking the arrows midair and warping the arrowheads, the wooden shafts bursting into flame and turning to ash. The remaining useless hunks of metal rained down around me, and I glanced at them unimpressed. Raising up Korin again, I raised my eyebrow. “I can play this game all day,” I drawled. “It’s your choice when it all stops.” Korin groaned. “Fine, fine, I will release the rest, but I am not going to let the Night Fury go.”

I closed my eyes and growled in exasperation. I’d had more than enough. Powering up the electrical stores in my muscles, I channeled a low voltage shock into Korin. 25 volts or so, enough to knock him out of his senses, but not enough to seriously hurt him. In any case….

“YAAAAAHHHH!!!”

I stopped, and his frizzed hair fell back, hanging straight down. He looked at me weakly then, slowly turned and looked at the man nearest to us. “Open the gates,” he squeaked quietly. When the man made no move to do as told, Korin yelled, “Open them all! NOW!!” The man finally ran off, finding the keys, and began to unlock one door after another. I set Korin down, and watched in amusement for a moment as he attempted to stand, and failed, then walked over to where the other man was unlocking the cells. He wasn’t opening them yet, but it didn’t matter. He cringed as I loomed over him, but when I didn’t make any other move, he continued. Door three…. Four…. Five! I pulled that door open when he unlocked it.

“TOOTHLESS!” Hiccup yelled, and bolted forward. I turned and put out my tail to stop him. “What are you doing?!” he snapped, glaring at me and trying to push my tail out of the way. “He’s injured,” I placated. “Let me help him out first.” I lowered my tail, and when Hiccup nodded and stayed put, still steaming, I turned and began to shrink as I morphed back to normal. Gasps echoed, as always, around the compound, and I rolled my eyes in response. “Here we go again,” I muttered under my breath.

Sure enough, from behind me came the question: “What on earth are you?” from Korin. I shrugged. “Human,” I replied curtly, without turning back. I walked into the cell, and over to Toothless, who barely raised his head due to the collar. There was a lock on each of the chains holding him down, and two on the collar, so I began to turn. “Where are the-“ I began, asking for the keys, but then I stopped. Why did I need keys?

I bent down and grabbed the collar first, and sent a jolt of energy through my hands, with one thought. There was a loud CLICK! and the collar fell open, Toothless gasping in relief and looking up at me. I held out my hand, signaling not to move, and leaned forward a little more, examining his neck.

The spike had done a lot of damage already, gouging deep cuts in his neck, and already the faintest signs of infection had begun to set in. I bit my tongue to keep from lashing out, and instead placed my hand on his neck. “Don’t move,” I said. “This won’t hurt, but it could feel a little weird.” He nodded slightly, and I focused on the wounds.

Faint light flowed across my fingers, and ethereal glow that extended from my hand across the dragon’s skin, and encircled each of the wounds and sunk in. Slowly, the skin closed inward, regrowing and sealing the wounds, all the dried blood and infected tissue sloughing off and leaving behind only the faintest signs that anything had ever been there. Once that was done, I proceeded to rip open the straps of the muzzle, and pulled it off. Toothless opened and closed his mouth a couple times, and then stretched his neck to work out the kinks. “Better?” I asked. <Yeah,> he replied, then looked forward out of the cell. I bent down to unlock the chains on Toothless’ legs, but before I could…

SCHEEEWWW!! BOOOMMMM!! “WHOOOAAA!!”

I spun around, feeling an intense heat rush by, and was greeted by the sight of a rising column of smoke emanating from where Korin had been standing. Off to one side was Korin, hair and leather suit slightly smoking, and he was laying on the ground, panting in panic and shock. I pinched the bridge of my nose, and turned to Toothless, who had a furious look on his face.

“What was that for?!” I yelled. <He deserved it!!> Toothless snapped back. I sighed and switched to Dragonese. <Maybe so, but he didn’t know about dragons. He’s only in it for the money, and I not only already gave him what he deserved, but this facility won’t be around for much-> <My neck was not the only thing they’ve hurt.>

I shut up, trying to connect the pieces with what he’d just said. <What do you mean?> I asked carefully. <Unlock me, so I can actually get out, and then I can show you,> he replied. I sighed again, and waved my hand, listening to the satisfying CLICK’s as the rest of the locks opened. Toothless got up slowly and stepped forward gingerly, groaning still in pain. As we stepped out of the cell and into the light, I immediately spotted what Toothless was referring to: his tail, from halfway down all the way to the tip, was limp and dragging across the ground, the limpness starting at a noticeable kink. Along his right wing, as well, was a notable bump that shouldn’t have been there, and it too, hung looser than it should have. I stopped moving, mouth open, as my eyes flicked between the two injuries and Toothless’ burning eyes.

Slowly, I turned around to face Korin again, who noted the look on my face and began to cringe in worry. “You broke his wing and tail?!” I yelled. “WHAT?!” Hiccup followed right after. He ran up to Toothless, stopping in shock upon seeing the breaks, then unsheathed his sword again and spun toward Korin. “How about I show you what breaking a wing feels like to a dragon?” he threatened, advancing on the owner, who now definitely knew he was at great risk.

I held up my hand toward Hiccup. “Go to Toothless, he needs you more than you need revenge,” I said. Hiccup stopped, and opened his mouth to protest, but then reluctantly nodded and turned back to his dragon. I however, marched up to Korin, a pair of wings expanding out threateningly and flaring wide. I picked him up by the front of his shirt and looked him straight in the eye. “I am actually very tempted to let those two have their way with you,” I warned. “But, we’re not animals like you. Dragons are nearly equals to us in all but technology. Actually scratch that, compared to people like you, they’re above humans.”

I gestured to Toothless, whose pupils went back to slits as he glared at Korin. “You know what it’s like for a dragon to lose its flight?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I continued. “You make them lose their wings or tail, make it so they can’t fly, not to mention the pain you put them through, it’s like me taking you, and cutting off both of your hands and feet. You can’t touch things, you can’t walk anywhere, and you are useless. Would you like to see what I mean?”

Korin shook his head frantically. “No! No, please, forgive me, I didn’t know!” “Yeah, that much is apparent,” Astrid commented nearby. I nodded. “A dragon will react to such treatment the same way you would,” I continued. “And if I ever see you or any of your men here doing anything like that again, I will support whatever action they decide to take against you.” I brought him up so that he could see the lines in my blazing red eyes. “In fact, if I ever hear of you committing any act like this that you or your men have done on any of these poor animals, I will personally find you, drag you back with me and tie you up upside down against the cliffs of Berk for the ravens to enjoy. Kapeesh?”

Needless to say, I was mad. Korin got the message, however, and nodded meekly. I dropped him unceremoniously and walked back over to Hiccup, who was examining the injury on Toothless’ tail.

“It’s a compound fracture,” he said, looking over the large kink. “It’s broken in multiple directions. The wing is a more simple fracture could be healed by a splint if we had one.” I nodded. “No need for that here though” I said, and looked up at Toothless. “You are going to need to lay down, and stay still. This will probably hurt, a lot.”

He did, carefully, and I motioned for Stoick, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and some of the other men to come forward. They walked up to us, and I pointed to Toothless. “I am going to have to straighten his tail, since I don’t know if healing it like this will make it actually stay crooked or not and I’m not taking that risk,” I explained. “Make sure he does not move. At all.” They nodded, and I looked at Hiccup, who was going to hold the wing in place. “Ready?” I asked, and he nodded.

I grabbed Toothless’ tail just above and below the break, and carefully began to move it so that it aligned properly. I could see the bones and joints underneath the skin, and worked to make sure they were all in proper place. As I did so, Toothless immediately shrieked in agony and began to struggle, but the Vikings managed to keep him held down enough so that I and Hiccup could keep the bones straight. I closed my eyes and focused, and felt the power flow across my skin and into Toothless.

The feeling beneath my hands was one of the strangest I’ve ever experienced. Slowly, Toothless stopped squirming, and I felt the bones realign properly and completely under the skin and muscle, and reconnect. They weren’t fully straight, but I could feel them move into position on their own. After a minute or two, I felt no more movement, or anything still out of place under my touch, and I glanced at Hiccup, who nodded and pointed at the wing. I stood up, and motioned for everyone to do the same, save for Hiccup, who moved to hold Toothless’ head as he got up.

Slowly, Toothless got to his feet, then turned and flicked his tail carefully, experimentally. Both tailfins flared, and all his wings did the same. His eyes widened and went round, and he first turned to Hiccup and gave him a lick, then looked at me. <Thank you,> he said. < I don’t ever want to feel that again.> “Neither do I,” I replied, and Toothless turned back to Hiccup.

As the two properly greeted each other (properly meaning Toothless bowled Hiccup to the ground and began licking him mercilessly, Hiccup laughing and weakly fighting back), I noted another important, missing detail. I turned to Korin again, who cringed in response, expecting another outburst. “Where’s his saddle?” I asked. Korin blinked, then his face turned to a look of confusion. “What saddle?” he queried back. I sighed and turned to the rest of our group. “Anyone happen to see where our traitors went?” Stoick nodded and gestured behind me toward a set of closed doors. “A group of people rushed into there when we arrived, I would bet my beard it was them.” I smiled, and sauntered over to the doors. Listening in, I heard anxious mutterings inside.

When I opened the doors, sure enough, I was met with a dozen owlish stares from our missing Vikings. There was silence for a minute, then, from somewhere in the back, came, “Told ye they’d find us.” I smirked and glanced behind me. “Anyone have a rope I could borrow?”

Apparently there was at least one guard who wanted to try and get on my good side, as a long coil of thick woven rope was tossed down from above a couple seconds later. “Thank you,” I said, and began to unravel it, tying a quick slip knot into a loop and facing the runaways. I grinned, and tossed the loop around the group of men, yanking it very tightly once it was around all of them.

“OOOOFF!!” “Hey, what gives?!” “Can’t…breathe….”

I shrugged as the complaints began from the pressure of the rope. “Just giving you guys the same treatment I’m sure you gave Toothless,” I explained, before turning around and pulling again on the rope, knocking the group off their feet and dragging them out into the dirt of the courtyard.

“Now, where’s the saddle?” I hissed. One of the men, probably the one who voiced the ‘told you’ earlier, looked up. “O-on the ship,” he blurted. I nodded and turned toward Stoick, holding out the rope to him. “Take them with you,” I said, “and secure the ship. I’ll meet you in Sturmlein in a short while.” Stoick nodded, taking the rope, and began to belt out instructions to the group with us. They took out an ancient looking version of handcuffs, and after securing the men, they headed out.

I walked over to Hiccup and Toothless, who were still caught in the moment of finally being able to see each other again, and tapped on their shoulders. “Oh, uh, hi,” Hiccup said sheepishly. “You should probably get going,” I said. “It won’t be too comfortable, but I’m sure Toothless can still carry you without the saddle.” I glanced at Toothless. “Just don’t drop him,” I said jokingly. He snorted, and turned to Hiccup, bending down to let him climb on, then turned and carefully took off. However, he did not leave before smacking Korin in the face with his tailfins.

I snorted, and turned to walk toward the door of the cell that held the Changewing. Before I reached it, though, I stopped. “Oh, why deal with them all one at a time?” I wondered out loud. “I can just do it all at once, I’m sure.” I backed up until I could see all the doors in my range of vision, and spread my hands outward.

A flash of light raced outward, into the doors, and they swung open, followed by the sounds of locks on the chains and other holdfasts opening and falling to the ground. Once the doors had fully swung open, a dozen and a half or so different animals came crawling out slowly, all of them not looking in good shape at all. I stole another glare at Korin, who had back up to a wall and was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. I growled, and looked back at the animals, flicking my hand again and releasing another wave of energy.

The cuts and scrapes crisscrossing the hides of the animals disappeared, and most of them stood up straighter as their strength returned to them, and began to bare their fangs at all the people around them. I sighed and thought hard, before raising my arms over my head to gain their attention and waving a hand again. Kind of hard to believe that mind control of any sort would be within my realm of ability, or even any sort of okay level, but knowledge of a sort could be passed to other creatures, instinctual forms of trust and understanding that can allow for rudimentary training or problem solving.

The beasts calmed down as I transferred their trust toward me, something any sentient creature would not be affected by, and it showed as the tigers and wolves and other animals started to follow me, but the Changewing did not appear.

<Are you here, friend? You said you would be back to help,> I heard from by the door that once held the dragon. I peered closer, and spotted the barest outline of the Changewing’s head blending into the wood and stone. I spread my arms out wide. <I’m right here,> I said, <right in front of you.> The Changewing turned to look at me, and slowly left his camouflaged state to crawl toward me.

<You were the one I heard?> he asked carefully. I nodded. His eye widened in realization. <Oh! Then that means you’re the-> I held up a hand. <Yes, yes, I know, but we don’t have time for that right now. We need to leave first.> I gestured to the gate, and with another hand wave and flash of light, it swung open as well. I held out my hands to the other animals, and pointed toward the door.

To the great surprise of Korin and the guards, again, they obeyed, if a little slowly, and trotted out the gate onto the road outside. I glanced down at the Changewing. <Stay with them, make sure none wander off.> He nodded, and flew out the gate, while I changed to Night Fury and lifted up over the wall. Before heading down the road, though, I turned and looked down at the fortress below.

“If you wish to stay alive, I would suggest every single one of you leave this facility immediately!!” I bellowed, loud enough for everyone within a mile to hear me. Then, I watched as the men below scrambled to exit the rooms with whatever they could carry, and out the gate out front. I gave them five minutes to make sure everyone was out of the way, before rising up a little higher, taking a deep breath and building up the gas in my throat, and igniting it, firing a bluish, pulsating plasma orb at the base of the nearest wall.

It wasn’t an ordinary Night Fury fireball though. It exploded on contact, but the flames raced outward along the wooden beams and in between the cracks in the stone at a supernatural place. Within 30 seconds, the entire structure was ablaze, the stones crumbling and falling apart as explosions corrupted the supports and ripped through the bricks. Another five minutes, and the entire fortress collapsed, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble and crackling wood.

I nodded in satisfaction, before I began to coast down toward the group of exotic animals below, landing in front of them and walking toward the village. With a little persuasion from the Changewing, they all began to follow me as well.

* * *

“What in the world?” Harald sputtered as I and my little parade came waltzing into the village along the main road. I stopped, the animals slowing down behind me, and turned to the governor. “If I can inquire, do you know of anyone in this village, or passing through, who is well traveled in this world, or at least has some basic knowledge of far off places?” I asked. Harald pursed his lips in confusion, before taking another glance at the circus behind me and putting the pieces together. “Uh, well, um, there are a couple sailors who live here who’ve, uh, been as far as Indonesia, I know.” I nodded, then gestured to the traveling zoo. “Good. These animals, as I’m sure you can guess, are not from around here, and need to get back to where they belong. Don’t worry too much about them, they are wild animals but I’ve, uh, ‘trained’ them to an extent, so they shouldn’t be too much danger.”

Harald nodded. “That will be a bit expensive.” “I’m sure you can get the money you need from the men who ran the facility. And I’m also sure you’ll be happy to help here, considering the reception we were given when we arrived.” He looked down sheepishly at my comment. “Yes, I do sincerely apologize about that, but I’m sure you understand this is an unprecedented situation you put us into here.” I nodded. “Yes, I’m sure it’s not something that will happen again either.”

Harald glanced up at the road, then back at the animals that were milling about on the street. “I am, uh, assuming the dreadful fort up there is no longer in business then?” he queried. I smirked slightly at this. “Let’s just say anyone coming through here again on such errands will find themselves at a disappointing dead end.” “Very well. Though, I must ask, what of the Changewing there?” he inquired. “They don’t exactly have a set home, save for just up here in the north.” “He’ll come with me,” I replied, turning toward the village below. “Now, would you be so kind as to tell me where Stoick and Hiccup may be at?” Harald gestured at the docks. “I’m sure they’re still taking care of those troublemakers you came here for, and that, uh, Night Fury you found.” I nodded. “Thanks. Now, just one more thing to take care of…”

I took a couple of minutes getting the circus act I rescued to follow Harald instead of me, and told him just to lead them down to the docks to the ships that would take care of them, along with a few care instructions I knew of. Then I flew to the docks myself with the Changewing, leaving the village leader looking somewhat lost and overwhelmed with his new task.

As we flew, I turned to the Changewing, who was still looking extremely skittish, though that was understandable considering what he’d just been through. <You don’t have to be afraid anymore,> I said. <The people we are going to go see, you can trust them with your life.> <Are you sure?> he asked anxiously. I nodded. <I already have, many times,> I said. The other dragon nodded slowly, and I glanced down at the village below, passing by us until the docks appeared on the ocean’s shore.

We glided downward, flaring our wings and landing next to the ship that was taken, and were soon spotted by Fireworm, who was on the deck. <Took you long enough!> she growled down. <What, did you stop for a picnic on your way back?> <Ha, ha, very funny,> I retorted back. <Like I said earlier, there were some loose ends that needed, eh, ‘tying up’. Are Toothless and Hiccup in there somewhere?> The Nightmare nodded in reply, and I shrank back to normal and walked up the gangplank, our new friend tagging along behind me.

Sure enough, I found them just below deck, at the other end of the ship, and Hiccup had managed to fit on nearly all of Toothless’ gear on. Of course, there was a lot less nowadays, what with no prosthetic fin needing controls and gears, but it would take anyone a good long time to saddle up a Night Fury who wouldn’t hold still. Before I could make my presence known, though, Stoick appeared.

“There ye are,” he noted. “We aren’t yet ready te head out, but we should be by evening.” He glanced at the Changewing, who shrunk behind me, and smiled. “And make sure yer new friend there knows he’s safe with us, no need te hide from me.” “I’m working on it,” I deadpanned. “It’s going to take some time. On another note, however, what are we going to do with all of Ingavar’s men? And I mean both the traitors and the ones who came with us.” “Ye don’t remember?” Stoick asked, raising an eyebrow. “And I thought you kept track of details like that. Ingavar’s already on ‘is way here, remember?” I stood there for a second, before it clicked. “Oh, yeah. Right.” Stoick just chuckled a little as he left, while I stood there looking like a dork for a moment before turning to Hiccup to help him keep Toothless still.

By evening, everything was ready for us to head back, and Toothless had gotten his flight with Hiccup in. It was too late to start heading out, again, but we were lent an empty warehouse in the village to stay the night in. Most of us would be heading off bright and early, and so tried to get to sleep as fast as possible. The only one who wasn’t able to stop fidgeting was our newcomer.

<Look, no one around here has hurt you up to this point, and they’re not going to,> I reassured the restless Changewing. He looked up at me. <How can you be so sure?> he asked. <I heard stories of people like this who have fought dragons for hundreds of years, and every human I’ve come across until now has either tried to kill or capture me.> I chuckled. <That tells me you haven’t been up further north any time recently, have you?> He shook his head in response, and I continued. <A few years ago, the war was ended between the Vikings and dragons, due to the acts of the Night Fury and the brunette over there.> I gestured to Toothless and Hiccup, who were lying together on a mattress we’d dragged in, and already drifting off to sleep. The Changewing turned and glanced at them. <They ended it?> <Uh huh. And other than a few isolated incidents there hasn’t been much trouble since concerning the two races.>

The Changewing finally lay down, and looked at me. <So when did you arrive there?> he asked. I shrugged. <Eh, only around a year ago, actually. But, I’ll admit, we’ve been through enough during that time that I’ve had to save their rear ends, and vice versa, multiple times.>

The Changewing snorted. <All you can do, and you’ve owed them your life before?> <It was only a few days ago I found all my secrets,> I explained, <and I’m sure there’s plenty I still don’t know.> It was getting a little chilly in the room, so I morphed to Night Fury and curled up on my own mat to ward off the cold of the night. <I know for a fact, though,> I continued, <that you can absolutely trust my friends here, especially those two,> I gestured to Hiccup and toothless again with my tail, <and Astrid, the blonde girl by the Nadder, Thorn.> I nodded to where she and Thorn lay in the corner, near Hiccup.

<I… I will try, then,> the Changewing said softly, finally curling up and blending with the dirt and hay on the floor. <I forgot to tell you: my name is Spitfire, by the way.> I cracked an eye open, and smirked. <Well, it’s nice to meet you Spitfire. Quite the fitting name, too. My name is Hawken.>

Spitfire snorted. <Now that’s one I’ve never heard before.> <I’m not exactly from around here,> I admonished. <Well, I like it, though.> <Thanks,> I said quietly, before finally closing my eye again. Not long after, everyone was peacefully sleeping, resting up for the final flight back to Berk in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Intro of an individual here who will be seen quite a lot in later stories...as well as another dragon species my character loves to become.


	13. Back to Berk

“Alright, ye lazy lot! Get up, time te go!”

I groaned and turned my head, cracking an eye open to see what was going on. Stoick was nearby, shaking the other teens and the accompanying men awake, and standing them on their feet. “We’re already burning daylight, best te head back te Berk soon,” he said. I yawned and slowly stood up, stretching dramatically and flaring my wings and tail as I did so, before turning to nudge Spitfire, who reacted by jolting upward and hissing, baring his teeth at me.

<Hey, hey, calm down, it’s just me,> I placated, smirking slightly. He groaned, and relaxed. <Don’t do that!> he complained. <I’m still not at peace about what happened yet!> I just shrugged in reply as I turned to grab my things. <I didn’t have much choice,> I said. <We’re leaving.>

After strapping on my pack and putting the mat I’d been sleeping on back into the corner it had come from, I turned and looked at Hiccup, who was still only half-awake, and sighed. “Toothless, would you mind?” I asked the Night Fury, gesturing to his sleepy rider. He glanced down at the Viking, who was still lying against his side, and grinned before, without any warning, jumping up and away.

“WHHAAAA!!!!” Hiccup yelled, flailing madly as he tried to keep from falling backward, but failing anyway. Growling, he rolled over and pushed himself to his feet, dusting off his clothes and glaring at Toothless, who glanced innocently away as if he’d done nothing at all.

“Get up on time, and we wouldn’t have the opportunity to do that,” I drawled. “We’re leaving right now, so whatever you need to pack up, I suggest you do so.” I ambled away over to my set of swords, which I hadn’t even had to use on the trip, and carefully slipped them on. It was always a bit of a pain, seeing as the straps I used were designed for people and not dragons, but I managed anyway.

After all our belongings were stowed away, we bade a last farewell to Harald and his village, thanking them (or snickering at their still bewildered looks) for promising to return the hostage animals to their homes, and set off after making sure Ingavar’s men were stationed on their ship and prepared to receive Ingavar later.

The trip back was easy enough, and faster too, since we didn’t have to stop and figure out where we were going all the way, and by sundown, we had managed to make it to the outermost satellite islands around Berk. Come nighttime, we spotted the main island and the docks by moonlight. Awaiting us in the village commons just beyond was what seemed to be nearly the whole village. 

As Hiccup, Toothless and I shot ahead of everyone else, spiraling toward the village center, a loud cheer rose up from the crowd.

“They’re back!” “Hooray! Toothless is okay!” “Quick, everyone grab their mugs, we’ll celebrate in the hall!”

I rolled my eyes at the last one as we flared our wings to land, but Vikings will be Vikings, I guess. They always tend to celebrate even small occasions with the classic mug o’ mead in hand. The rest of our group soon landed behind Toothless and I, or at least as close as they could when the crowd gathered around us, all were welcomed back with smiles and friendly punches to the shoulder.

“Well, it’s good to finally be back to normal,” Hiccup remarked. I nodded. “Agreed. But don’t you think it’s going to be a bit empty now, what with the entire other tribe gone?” Hiccup snorted. “There’ll just be more time for us. Hey, I wonder how many are going to actually find their own dragons now?” I laughed. “Oh, I doubt that many. They’re sailors; ships are a bit cramped for most dragons. They’d have to make a permanent settlement and actually stay there to deal with these guys.” To emphasize, I nudged Toothless, who snorted in protest. “Them, and their costs of upkeep,” I continued, chuckling.

<Hey! I’m not that bad to deal with, am I?> Toothless grumped. I raised an eyebrow as Hiccup sniggered. <Okay, maybe a little,> Toothless finally muttered, <but I’m worth it!> I chuckled again as I turned to face the crowd. “Yeah, I guess you are. But now, let’s just focus on getting everything squared away again. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little tired.”

I ended up heading home very late, and just sort of wandered into my room, falling asleep before I’d even hit the pillow. The next day, however, Holly forced me to finally take her to Berk again, and was very happy to see everyone safe and sound. Plus, she was kept busy by Astrid helping her redecorate her house, since all of the dragons were back in the village, and the dragon-related items could once again be returned to their previous locations. Things were finally just about back to normal, and everything was peaceful again, just the way we liked it. Mind you, I am not counting Ruff and Tuff’s daily arguments in that peace.

* * *

About a week later, Hiccup and I were in the forge, in the back room, working on yet another new project, when we were called up to the Mead Hall by a messenger from the docks. We just glanced at each other, expecting something unpleasant, but reluctantly set our tools down and headed up.

“Something wrong?” Hiccup asked as we pushed open the doors. Stoick, who was sitting in a chair nearby, laughed and shook his head as he stood up, holding a piece of parchment. “Nae, nothin’ bad,” he assured. “It’s a letter from Ingavar, actually. Wolfblood’s been put into prison, finally, and they’ve got Bitwolf on sanitation duty until further notice.” Hiccup and I both snickered at this, as I’m sure everyone knows well that sanitation is not a pleasant job. “He also says they’ve found a few Terrors who are now travelling with them,” Stoick continued, handing us the letter. “They’re one of the few dragons comfortable on small ships, and they’re currently planning te head down the coast of Europe.”

I nodded in response. “Well, good to hear everything’s going alright for them, finally. Keep us updated if anything else comes in from them.” “I’ll be sure te do so,” Stoick replied, chuckling. “Well, that’s all I had fer ye. You two can get back to whatever project I’m sure yer workin’ on now.”

Hiccup and I did return to the forge, and about an hour later, we had finally finished our experiment. We had designed expandable straps for my swords, since it was always a pain adjusting them every time I changed size while wearing them. They were made of a combination of elastic bands I had found at home, and pliable leather the Hiccup had in the forge.

“Well, hopefully you won’t get stuck holding onto them for me all the time,” I said, holding the straps up as I looked at Hiccup. “I’m also hoping they’ll have other uses too, mind you,” Hiccup replied, taking his tools and putting them back into their places, and then picking up a bundle of the material. “That’s a whole lot of strapping for just a few swords and a backpack.” I smiled and nodded. “Well, you’re the inventor, Hiccup. I’m sure you’ll figure out something.”

I glanced out the back window of the forge, and saw the sun beginning to lower in the sky. “Well, it’s getting late,” I said, “and I have to go find Holly, or my mom will kill me.” Hiccup laughed in reply. “Oh, I’m sure she’s just with Astrid.” His eyes widened. “Or god forbid she’s found herself with the twins again. You remember what happened last time, right?” I sighed. “Yeah, I remember. Holly wasn’t allowed near the fish storehouse for a month. The twins for 3, too.” I shrugged. “But still, my mom will strangle me if I don’t return her by sundown.” Hiccup snorted as he walked out of the forge with me. “All you can do, and you still fear the wrath of parents?” He smirked and put a hand on my shoulder. “Though I don’t blame you,” he added.

Hiccup turned toward Toothless, getting up on the saddle and glancing my way. “Hurry back though. Even with this oaf here, it gets quiet without you around.” <Hey!> Toothless growled. I laughed and spread my wings. “I will,” I replied, launching upward and soaring over the village to find my sister.

Back home, the evening was quiet and uneventful, peaceful, a reminder that the excitement was over for now. I was certainly glad myself, as I needed a rest. It was about time for a break, a slow time after the hectic week of near-constant action we had been through, and all of us were content to just lay back and relax, enjoy the serenity while it lasted.

Because, when you lead a life like we did, peace never does last as long as it should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is, Book 2 all wrapped up. If you're still following along, still waiting for things to really start improving...well, I'd say one more book to get through before then, so hang on and follow along into Reaches of Reality!

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a better (and shorter) tale than the last, though mind you I still label it firmly in the "early stages" of my writing. Nevertheless, events and characters here will be crucial to later stories, just as the first book was, so read enough at least to understand what's going on :)


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